The Weakest Link
by Brumme
Summary: Whispers about a revolution causes President Snow to reconsider the third Quarter Quell. Completely different 75th Hunger Games. This story will explore the mentor role and show behind the scenes of the Hunger Games.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: The first few chapters will be similar to Catching Fire's, so there might be some minor spoilers.

Legal disclaimer for the entire story: The Hunger Games doesn't belong to me, and I don't do this for profit.

**Chapter 1:**

Six months had passed since they returned home from the Hunger games. Katniss spent most of her time with her family, trying to put the past year behind her.

It was not easy, least of all while moving into their new house in the victor village. They had brought most of their possessions over from their old one, even the couch, a couch got better with age her mother said. It had been the first furniture her parents bought.

The new house was bigger than the previous one, everything they owned could be comfortably stored in one of the three floors. Spreading things out just made it worse.

Beyond a few questions from her family the first few days, she had yet to talk to anyone about the games. There had been a big party when they first stepped out from the train, to celebrate their homecoming, their survival. But the enthusiasm had not been heartfelt, as the next years games were already clouding their thoughts. Having a victor had both negative and positive aspects.

Katniss lifted her head up and stared out the window. She was sitting in her old bedroom. It was snowing heavily, forcing her to spend most of her time inside the house. She saw Prim sitting cross-legged over by the fireplace, staring into the flames. She had been doing that a lot since the end of the Hunger games, and Katniss often spotted Prim sitting quietly in a corner, alone with her thoughts, not really seeing anything.

The energetic little girl Katniss had left seemed lost to them, Katniss closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them she was suddenly face to face with Prim. Katniss flinched, then attempted to cover it up with a hand movement as she reached out to touch Prim's hair.

Prim frowned at her, Katniss smiled back.

"You're leaving again today," Prim said, her blue eyes never leaving Katniss's.

Katniss pulled her hand back, and stood up.

"Yeah, but only for a little while." An empty promise, she had angered the capitol. Her fate was in their hands now, and they were not known for their mercy.

They stared at each other in silence.

"I will be right back," Prim said, and left the room quickly.

Katniss stared after her with a sad smile, her mother had kept up her end of the agreement. She had been a better mother to Prim than she ever was to Katniss. She had brought Prim further into her practice, and allowed her to care for some patients on her own. Katniss looked out the window again, and spotted children playing in the snow. She wished that Prim would go and join them, to be a child for once.

Footsteps came from behind her and she turned around to see who it was.

"Mother."

"It's time." Her mother said simply, her eyes clouded.

Katniss took a deep breath and nodded. She crossed the room and came to a halt before her mother.

"Be safe."

"Remember your promise." Katniss responded.

Her mother nodded, yet kept blocking her way. It wasn't until Katniss gave a tiny nod that she moved away from the doorway, allowing Katniss to pass.

Prim was waiting in the hallway, clutching Buttercup to her chest. She let him go as soon as she spotted her. The cat hissed at Katniss, and she hissed back. It was such an ugly cat.

Katniss smiled at Prim and reached over and pulled her in for a hug. Prim's small arm reached around her and clutched at her back. She was always so warm, like Peeta.

"Katniss," Prim mumbled against Katniss's shirt.

"Yes, little duck?" Katniss murmured back.

"Come back soon," Prim looked up at her.

"Always," Katniss said firmly looking right back at her.

They embraced for a few more seconds, until the noises coming from the outside became too loud to ignore. She gently pried Prim's arms away from her, Prim only fought her a little. Katniss smiled softly, Prim had always been the smart one.

Once free she grabbed her coat quickly and stepped outside. She was met by two peacekeepers, none of which she had met before. They must have been specifically chosen for the victory tour.

She started walking, and didn't look back as the door clicked shut behind her.

She looked around for Peeta, but she couldn't see him anywhere. She glanced toward his house, he was her nearest neighbour. There was no lights turned on inside, and the outside lantern was unlit. So he had left before her. One of the peacekeepers turned toward her, and she glared at him. She sped up, her feet kicking up snow as she walked. Forcing the peacekeepers to hurry to keep up with her.

She looked around for the children that she had seen playing earlier, but she didn't see them anywhere. They walked through the main street, through the heart of the town. There was no one outside, no one there to say goodbye. They were probably just inside, staring out from behind the curtains. She was cold, the wind brushed around her body.

Katniss held her head high, and stared straight ahead as she walked on.

It didn't take long until they reached the train station, and she could clearly spot the shiny train at the tracks. Like everything else from the capitol, it contrasted completely from its current surroundings.

Usually this train only arrived once a year, to choose the tributes, and then bring them to the capitol. But this year was different, they had won. The citizens of district 12 would see a lot more of it this year.

The two peacekeepers stopped before the train. She walked ahead. When she was almost at the door, it opened, and she could see more peacekeepers inside. She entered the train and walked past them, staring each of them into the eyes, daring them to stare back. None of them did, they all stared forward, their dead eyes seeing nothing.

The door closed behind her with a hollow sound, she kept on walking.

She reached the door leading to the dining car; and peeked through the window in the door, she saw Haymitch and Peeta sitting by the table. Effie was nowhere to be seen.

Katniss focused her eyes on Peeta. She had not seen him for weeks, and not spoken to him for months. He seemed healthier now, and had recovered some of the weight he lost during the games. His cheeks had regained their colour. Her heart beat faster. She shook her head slightly, trying to clear her mind.

Katniss stepped into the car, and could feel both pair of eyes focus on her. She sent a glare in their direction, but did not linger. She walked briskly past them, and into the next car. The sleeping car, she was moving so fast that she almost collided with Effie, who exited a room right in front of her.

"There you are. We have been waiting for you," she said enthusiastically, with only a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Yes," Katniss said and moved around Effie. Katniss was already in a foul mood, and was still angry at her from the last games.

"The rooms are exactly like last time, I trust you can find yours." Effie called after her.

Katniss did not answer; she had already reached it, and quickly slipped inside.

Once inside the compartment she fell down at the bed, she closed her eyes, and willed the world to disappear around her.

* * *

She stayed in her room for hours; the train started moving a few hours in, she spent most of the time gazing out at the landscape. Beyond the electric fence, district 12 was beautiful.

Katniss started to pace back and forth inside the room, whenever she stopped she always seemed to be facing the door, and sometimes she even took a step towards it, before she stopped abruptly, turned and started to pace the room again. This was her room, she could stay here forever, watching life fly by outside.

By the time she found the guts to leave, her entire body had started to tingle. She took one last look out the window before she moved out the door, what she wouldn't give to be out there instead of in here.

When she arrived to the dining car only Haymitch was there, which caused her to halt for a split second, her resolve weakening. But she pressed on, this wasn't Peeta. She had done nothing bad to this man, not yet anyway. Her feet led her to the couch, and she sat down lightly. She sat across from Haymitch, the table separating them.

"Where is Peeta?" she asked quickly, having already grown tired of the silence.

"He went to his room," he answered, giving her a look.

"What?" she snapped.

He chuckled but did not respond.

She looked around; dinner was out on the table. She touched her stomach gently, she had not eaten since breakfast, and would need all the energy she could get, but did not really have the appetite. So instead she leaned back into the couch and stared past Haymitch, and out of the window behind him. She wondered if Gale had gotten anything on his hunting trip. She hoped he had, he was going to need it.

There was noise coming from the adjacent car, and soon also approaching footsteps. She kept her eyes on the window, but her focus was on listening to the footsteps. She glanced towards the sleeping car, and could see a male face appear in the window.

It was Peeta. He slipped inside; Effie right behind him. Peeta was limping, but it was better than the last time she saw him, now it was barely noticeable.

Peeta kept his eyes on them as he came closer, but gave no visual reaction to their presence.

"Hey," he said towards Katniss, she could feel the couch move as his weight settled on it.

"Hey," she responded, doing her best not to wince as her memories from their last interaction came crashing forwards. It had not been her proudest moment.

Effie had remained standing, even though there was a free chair directly in front of her. She had a new wig on, it was green, with wild orange highlights. Effie pressed her hands together and started to speak.

"Welcome back," Effie said with some enthusiasm.

Katniss hated this about her, could she not read the mood? She was talking to a drunk and two teenagers, none of them appreciated the enthusiasm.

Effie continued, "I am so happy to see you all again! And for such a great occasion, the winner's tour!" She went on to explain the logistics of the tour. All of which Katniss knew already. The winner's tour, like the Hunger Games was required viewing for all the residents of district 12.

Effie finally stopped speaking, and stared at them with proud eyes. Katniss narrowed her eyes at her, Peeta was leaning forwards looking at a spot on the floor in front of them. Effie laughed weakly, then clapped her hands together and started to speak again.

Peeta cut her off before she could get started, "Can we write our own speech?" He asked.

Katniss could see Effie falter. She glanced at Haymitch, but quickly turned back as she noticed that Haymitch had fallen asleep. He was snoring quietly.

"You can, but it would be easier for everyone if you just followed the speeches already written. We would not want to offend anyone." Effie glanced in Katniss's direction.

Katniss took it as a compliment.

Peeta gave Effie a dazzling smile, and said, "Of course."

"Great," Effie said, and once more clapped her hands together, barely making any sound as she did it.

"Great," she repeated, and regarded Peeta and Katniss in turn, then she took another glance at Haymitch before she left the room. No doubt to make sure her make-up was perfect for the next day.

"I wonder how they choose the escorts," Katniss said as soon as the door closed behind Effie.

"It has to be the make-up," Peeta answered quietly.

She nodded, and added "Or the hair."

"At least she has that down," Peeta said.

Katniss agreed, and they grinned at each other. Even with all their problems there was some strange solidarity to be in this together.

The moment did not last, and Katniss turned back towards the table. Haymitch had moved. She looked up at him; he still sat slumped in his chair, a bottle in hand. But his eyes were unmistakeably open, and they were boring into hers with a clarity that surprised her.

She could feel Peeta shift beside her, making it apparent that he had noticed as well.

"You two are so awkward." Haymitch said grinning. "You will have to do better than this when you're in front of the camera."

Her brow furrowed in confusion.

Haymitch laughed, "You didn't think it was over did you?" he asked. "In the eyes of the viewers you will always be the star-crossed lovers. " Haymitch said.

Katniss turned towards Peeta; he avoided her eyes and looked the other way.

Neither Peeta nor Katniss responded, "Fix it!" Haymitch exclaimed and then started to claw himself up from his chair, once fully upright he stumbled away from them. Going in the same direction that Effie had disappeared.

Nothing was said for the next few moments.

Peeta broke the silence, "don't worry about it." He had turned towards her, and gave her a small smile.

"I will make it work. You don't have to do anything," he said, looking at Katniss. Then he got up from the couch, and followed the others out of the car, taking whatever happiness she had felt with him and leaving her utterly alone.

She should have expected this; their relationship had been the only thing keeping them alive in the arena. And considering the stunt she pulled at the end, maybe also outside. She closed her eyes; she was not good at this.

She had already spent more time than she ever wanted in her room, so she did not follow the others.

Instead, she walked over to one of the windows and felt the handle, it was unlocked. She pulled on it firmly and opened it fully. The window was big enough for her to put her entire head outside, and that was exactly what she did. The wind hit her face, catching her braid, almost causing it to hit her face. But she caught it in time and pushed it around to the other side. She smiled, her own private smile, the one she only shared with Prim. There was something about the rushing, cold wind that always seemed to calm her down.

She closed her eyes and attempted to shut everything out, to just focus on the sound of the engine.

Suddenly she was not going to district 11 anymore; she was not even on a train. She was running with Gale, who ran grinning beside her. They were free, and hunting, she could see a deer clearly in the distance. It stopped behind a big maple tree, and stood completely still, ears raised.

They would catch it, they had chased it into a minefield of Gale's snares. Even if she missed, it was just a matter of time. She grabbed an arrow and placed it on the bow string. The bow sang, and the arrow flew towards the target.

She lost track of time as she stood there enjoying the dream, when she finally leaned back into the train, it had become dark outside. She closed the window slowly, enjoying the final breath of air on her face. Eventually it closed shut, making a barely audible sound as the window met the frame.

She did not spend any more time in the dining car, and walked to her room. She tried to listen for any sign of life from Peeta's room as she walked past it, but there was nothing. Maybe he had already gone to bed.

Once inside her own room she went over to the bed and sat down on it lightly. District 11. That was Rue's district, Rue and Thresh, two people to whom she owed her life.

She did not fall asleep for another few hours, and not even sleep could offer her relief from it all.

* * *

She woke up early the next morning, her latest nightmare cut short by her own death. She jumped out of bed, her bare feet hit the cold floor. She walked into her bathroom, and into the shower. The warm water kept the cold away, but her body did not stop shaking. Hopefully it had been a silent nightmare. Back in the victor village she had repeatedly woken up Prim in the middle of the night. Prim had then come to stay with her, but not even her warmth could stop the crushing feeling in her heart or make her body relax.

She turned down the shower intensity, and listened for any sounds. If anyone had heard her it was likely that they would come knocking on her door. There were no sounds, aside from the noise coming from her shower the train were eerily quiet.

She could not even hear the steady sound from the engine, nor could she feel the train move. They had arrived at district 11. She stayed in the shower until she felt her skin start to prune.

As she left the shower she glanced around for a towel, she had forgotten to grab on her rushed entry. Luckily there was one just within reach. She grabbed it and started drying herself off, the entire room was filled with steam, implying that she had stayed in there for a long time.

After getting dressed, she left the room quickly, determined to spend as little time in there as necessary. As she entered the dining car she found the others already there eating. Katniss sat down on the couch beside Peeta, the same spot she had occupied the day before. She could smell fresh bread, and the faint aroma of jam, yet food had never looked as unappetizing as it did right then.

Katniss glanced over at Peeta's plate, it was filled with untouched food. It seemed like Peeta was of the same mind as her, he was just a few steps ahead and had spent considerable time cutting the food into tiny pieces.

"Your stylists will be here in a few minutes, so be sure to eat something before then," Effie said. Katniss glanced over at her, Effie's plate was empty. She had probably eaten beforehand or maybe she was struck with the same empty feeling as Katniss.

Effie looked as she always did; Katniss and Peeta had once shared a laugh as they tried to figure out if the make-up was permanent. That was ages ago now. She dared a brief glance at him; he had stopped playing with his food, and sat staring out the window. Feeling her gaze on him, he turned and for a second their eyes locked.

His blue eyes were drilling into her grey ones. They were so impossibly blue.

"You should eat something." Peeta said motioning to the food, the moment was shattered.

She stared at her empty plate, then over at his full one, and then she looked back at him with both eyebrows raised. His cheeks flushed slightly and he looked away.

* * *

Katniss only liked one person on her prep team, unfortunately for her, said person always arrived last. For now she was stuck with his three assistants. They were part of the capitol that she hated, superficial and full of themselves.

"Do not move," Octavia said harshly. She was in the process of polishing Katniss's nails, which took entirely too long. Peeta had already walked past, and she had yet to meet Cinna.

She tried to make the time go faster by counting the seconds go by in her head. She had almost reached four digits when the door was finally pushed open, and Cinna's handsome face appeared.

"Missed me?" he asked with a smile on his face. Katniss got up and ignoring the complaints, walked swiftly over to him. She gave him a hug, she had missed him. As far as she was concerned he was the only good thing to ever come out from the capitol.

"You can go," Cinna said, speaking to his three assistants. They seemed more than happy to comply.

"You look beautiful," he said, looking over her dress.

Katniss looked in the mirror; she was wearing a light blue dress, which reached her knees. She moved around in it. The dress was flowing around her, following her every move, always a second too late to catch her.

"You are ready," he told her, and put a hand out stopping her movements. He put both hands on top of her shoulders and leaned forward until his forehead rested against hers.

"Katniss Everdeen, you can do anything, I truly believe that."

She smiled at him, grateful for his calm presence.

He leaned back and let go of her shoulders.

"Now go."

He stepped away from the door, which had been left open.

She met Peeta in the hallway, he stood leaning against the wall. He was dressed in a dark shirt and pants. His hair had been straightened and combed toward the right.

Apparently he had been waiting for her, as he started to move as soon as she stepped out from the room. She followed after him, not really sure why he had waited out here instead of in the dining car.

They entered the car and quickly spotted Haymitch and Effie. Haymitch was sitting at the table, and Effie was standing on the opposite side of the room. She was shooting glares in his direction, but avoided looking directly at him.

Haymitch was wearing a grey suit, which looked like it almost fit him. He almost appeared sober. She moved closer, there was no alcohol smell. Katniss looked at Effie, this would have to be her doing, and she wondered what she had used to bribe him into it.

"You look so handsome!" Effie said, and touched Peeta's cheek. Peeta smiled back.

"And look at you. You look lovely!" she said as she moved over to Katniss. Katniss tried to force out a smile, Peeta had told her to always smile, but somehow it was harder now that she didn't have him supporting her.

"Here." Effie handed them both a piece of paper. "It is your speech. Look them over; you will be on in thirty minutes."

Katniss looked down at the sheet of paper in her hand.

_I am honoured to have met both Thresh and Rue and I know they were proud of their accomplishments. And I know that they would have wanted me to say..._

She stopped reading. She could not say this, not to Rue's family. She did not know what either of them wanted her to say, but she knew that whatever it would have been it would have been considerably different from what the capitol had spun up.

She looked over at Peeta desperately; he had to have something better than this. Peeta's eyes ran carefully over the speech, and then he folded it neatly and placed it into his pocket.

"Thank you," he said.

Her eyes looked over the speech again, was he actually going to use this? She would not, she would rather stand quiet, like a mute.

* * *

Time passed too quickly and soon they were walking toward the stage. The city had an entirely different feel to it, than any other place Katniss had ever been. District twelve had a very sad feeling attached to it, along with pain and suffering. The houses were all grey, coloured by the dust from the mines.

District eleven was more alive, she did not know if it was the colourful paint jobs, or maybe the smell of the air. The air was unmistakeably cleaner. She took several deep breaths, cold air filled her lungs.

On the way over they were surrounded by an incredible amount of peacekeepers, who all had their guns in front and seemed nervous. It was strange, but her mind did not linger on it. Her attention was mostly on the person walking beside her. She had left the speech in her sleeping compartment, just as an extra form of rebellion, she could not back down now, but unfortunately Peeta had brought his.

The walk from the train to the market square was a short one; the main town in district 11 seemed even smaller than the one in district 12. She looked around, trying to find something to distract herself with, but there was not much interesting to see, the only people in the streets were peacekeepers, or other people from the capitol.

The people living here were most likely already at the square waiting.

They were led into a building, where they were allowed to rest for a few minutes before they were going on. Very few words were said here, some encouraging words from Effie, and some warnings from Haymitch. Peeta did not speak at all.

Soon enough, it was time. They walked over to the door which would lead to the stage. She looked over at Peeta, who glanced back. His hand moved over to hers, she hesitated, then allowed him to take it.

"For our families," he whispered. She nodded.

The door started to open, and as she was about to walk out she could feel a hand on her back.

"Remember, big smiles," Effie whispered.

Then they were out, walking hand in hand. Silence welcomed them, no one was clapping or shouting. Somehow this made it easier for Katniss, she dropped her smile.

The peacekeepers that had followed them here now stood between her and the crowd, still with one hand on their weapons. She gazed out over the crowd, district 11 was larger than 12. There had to be at-least twice as many people here than in 12.

They reached the microphone. Peeta let go of her hand, and stepped forward.

He reached into his pocket and grabbed a piece of paper. Katniss recognized it as the one he had received from Effie. He unwrapped it gently, and then opened his mouth to speak.

"I did not know Thresh or Rue very well. We were always very focused on ourselves, trying to stay alive. From what little interaction I had with Thresh I know him as a strong man, an honest man, a man that would do literally anything for those he cared for." He paused and glanced over at Katniss.

"Rue." He spoke the name softly, "Rue was a special kind of good, and even in the middle of the games she never changed. I never spoke with Rue, but I know from Katniss:" Here he turned towards her, leading the crowd to change focus to her.

Then he continued speaking, once more drawing their attention towards himself.

"That Rue played a significant role in our survival. And that Katniss cared a lot for her."

He stopped; it had been a short speech, much shorter than the one sent from the capitol. He stepped back towards Katniss, and took her hand in his. They stood in silence for a few seconds, quietly looking at the crowd, and allowing the crowd to do the same.

Then Katniss lifted her hand to her mouth, her left hand, she kept the right one in Peeta's. She did the salute, to mourn the ones lost. Peeta stared at her, their eyes met. He let go of her hand, and lifted his hand as well.

Then the bravest of the people attending did the same thing, and one by one the rest followed.

A crash broke the silence into tiny little pieces. Katniss's head snapped toward the sound. She saw a tall, burly man at the very edge of the crowd. He was holding one end of a chair. The other end of the chair was planted into a car, a capitol car.

Time stood still.

There were hands grabbing her from behind, she grappled them off her and moved a step forward. But more hands joined, and she was dragged backwards. Her eyes were glued to the man, she could not look away. He let go of the chair, and raised his left hand into the air. His eyes were clear, focused, and looking straight at her.

Then he fell, his left hand still held up. Katniss never saw him land, she had been dragged back into the building, and the door had been shut tightly behind her.

"What the hell was that?" Haymitch was shouting at them.

"What was that? Why did he do that?" Katniss cried out. She was numb. Everything around her seemed to be moving faster than she was. She looked over at Peeta, his eyes was unfocused, probably replaying the scene in his head.

"The speech, you have to know that there will be consequences to this?" Haymitch was still shouting, now directly in Peeta's face. Katniss moved a little closer to Peeta, she had thought his speech brilliant, and was just about to say that when Haymitch rounded up on her.

"And you! You of all people should know that every action has consequences. What did you hope to achieve with your little stunt out there?" He asked harshly.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out, she did not know why she did it, it had seemed appropriate at the time. She glared at him.

Haymitch threw his hands up and moved around the room. He was pacing back and forth.

"If only you had kept to the script." Effie said, she too appeared distraught at this entire thing.

There was a loud crash, followed by a series of curses. Haymitch had just punched through the wall. Now he stood clutching his hand, a bruise already forming on his knuckles.

Peeta chose this moment to speak up. "I think we need to go back to the train." He said, his voice barely audible.

The others agreed, and soon enough they were all moving towards the train. Katniss still could not get the man's expression from her mind. She had not seen it in a long time, and seeing it on a doomed man confused her.

It was the expression of hope.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

They reached the train station in a hurry, and there was already peacekeepers at the train doors. They stepped aside and allowed them to pass. As the doors closed behind them the engine started, and soon they started to move, within a few minutes the town was out of sight. No words had been spoken on the way back. This left Katniss agitated, she needed to know what was going on.

They went into the dining car, Haymitch headed straight to the liquor cabinet, and before anyone could stop him he had taken two big chugs of a blank bottle which contained some turbid fluid.

Peeta sat down on the couch, once he had settled in he looked up at Haymitch expectantly. Effie stood by the door, she looked undecided. Finally she too went further into the room.

Katniss moved over to stand to the right of Peeta, she did not feel like sitting. Her eyes was still trained at Haymitch. He looked back at them, but made no motion to speak.

"I think it is time to go to bed." Effie said, but without any real conviction. She fussed with her hair, and kept changing facial expression. It had started to rain outside, the wind made a loud tapping noise as it hit the windows.

Katniss sent her a glare. She would not move until someone told her something.

"The lady is right." Haymitch said. He was not looking at them anymore, instead his eyes were fixed on Effie.

"No. You will-" Katniss started.

"I will do nothing, this is on you." He said and stabbed a finger in their direction, his voice harsh. He stalked out of the room, and took the bottle with him. Katniss moved to follow but was held back by a hand around her wrist. She looked down, ready to fight.

Peeta met her gaze, his eyes sad. He shook his head, then let go of her hand gently. Katniss touched her wrist absentmindedly, his fingers had always been so warm.

"Good night, do not stay up too late. We have a long day ahead of us." Effie smiled at them, to Katniss it appeared more like a grimace. She left them alone.

"Why did you stop me?" Katniss hissed at Peeta.

"He knows what's best for us. I'm sure he has his reasons." Peeta looked at the floor, he spoke with little emotion. His shoulders were hunched up, and his feet were placed close together. He sounded very little like the Peeta she knew.

"That's not true," she said, this was something that had been on her mind ever since they left the arena. She moved around him, and sat down beside him.

Peeta moved his body to face her. He did not speak.

"He did what was best for me, he tried to get me out alive." She stressed the word me. She looked at him with fervour, she needed him to understand this. "He left you to die," she said, her voice soft.

Peeta sat still, then a sad smile materialized on his lips. She felt shivers go down her back; whenever he had that smile, something bad was sure to follow.

"You had the better chance. If he had chosen me we would both be dead." His eyes were tired, he looked terrible.

"That still didn't give him any right." Her voice had started to rise.

"It did. We were dead Katniss." His lips still turned upward making the smile ever more pronounced, that damn smile. "He made us survive."

She stormed away after that, unwilling to look at him anymore.

The corridor was dark as she moved, most of the lights were turned off.

"The capitol is always watching. Meet me outside at eight tomorrow." Katniss heard from the shadows. She had almost missed it, angry thoughts clouded her mind. It had been Haymitch's voice. She didn't respond and just walked on. Finally, she would get some answers.

She did not sleep at all that night, the day's events kept her awake. She spent most of the time gazing out the window. She thought of Prim and her mother, who must have seen everything. What would they think, would they blame her for the man's death? Prim would not, Katniss knew, she hoped the same for her mother. Could her actions today come back to haunt them? She did not know, her stomach churned at the thought.

* * *

The train reached district ten in the middle of the night, this made the rest of the night much harder for her. She no longer had any distractions.

At seven thirty she left her compartment and moved outside. There was two peacekeepers who stood guard at the doors, she did not recognize them, and they were not the same ones that had been there the day before. They moved out of the way and allowed her to pass.

The second the doors opened the wind hit her hard. She looked around, there was no town in sight, and the landscape was desolate. She could spot the electric fence in the distance.

Footsteps caused her to twist around, she had not moved from the doorway. It was Peeta, his limp was more noticeable today, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"Hey." She said. He greeted her back. Then together they moved out of the train. They didn't have any specific plan, so they wandered around in silence. They had seen the back of the train twice when Peeta spoke up.

"Why don't we sit down here, Haymitch should be able to spot us easily from the train."

"Sure."

They sat down on the ground, the asphalt was cold. Katniss did not mind, in a twisted sense it reminded her of all the hours she had spent lying in wait whilst hunting, hoping that the animals would come to her.

They were seated in front of the train, and faced away from it. They sat in silence, neither of them in the mood to talk about the night before.

"Say, what's your favourite colour?" Peeta asked. The silence had lasted so long that Katniss almost forgot that he was there. The question had come out of nowhere, and Katniss looked over at him in surprise.

"Why?"

"We are supposed to be a couple. We should know things about each other." He answered.

"Green,-" And after a slight pause, "-yours?"

"Orange; like the sunset." It suited him.

"You're a little rusty," a voice said. Katniss was startled. She jumped up, ready to defend herself.

"Follow me," Haymitch said. He stood a few feet away from them. He walked away from the train, towards the electric fence. They followed close behind, her a little ahead of Peeta. Katniss could not resist throwing glances over her shoulder, she felt that this meeting needed to be private.

They walked for two minutes, far enough from the train to ensure a private conversation, but not far enough to lose it from sight. Haymitch turned around abruptly, and stared at them with a serious expression on his face.

Katniss was cold, her body was reacting to the situation, something big was going on, and she was about to find out what.

"After last year's hunger games," Haymitch said. "The relationship between the capitol and some of the outer districts got-" he hesitated "-heated." He made a grimace.

"For the first time in over a decade there was a district wide riot. The capitol responded, and shut down the entire district; countless people were executed."

Katniss felt numb, her hands were cold, right then if anyone pushed her, she would fall. There was a lot of hate towards the capitol, she had seen it, but she rarely heard anyone act on it. For an entire district to do so; there would be consequences for everyone.

"What district was this?" Peeta asked.

Haymitch hesitated.

"It was district eleven wasn't it?" She looked at Peeta, she could see that his jaw was set, he stared intently at Haymitch.

Her head snapped towards Haymitch, the answer was all over his face.

Haymitch gave a curt nod.

"How could you!" Peeta shouted. "You knew what I would say, you let me walk right into it."

"Keep your voice down." Haymitch looked from side to side, to see if anyone had heard Peeta's outburst.

"Your words, in the building and on the train. You said it was on us. You allowed us to believe…" Peeta broke off, he was not shouting, but his voice was far from calm. His hands had morphed into tight fists.

"No one made you say the words. You decided to say them, don't blame me because shit didn't turn out as you wanted." Haymitch snapped back.

"There's something more going on isn't there?" Katniss asked. At his slight nod she continued, "and you are part of it." She paused, "and now, so are we."

Her voice was unemotional, her face was blank, but her heart was thumping hard and fast in her chest. It had begun. Haymitch ran a hand over his face, then said, "You were always part of it, whether you wanted to or not."

She looked at Peeta. "It was all part of their plan, to show us off. To show people that the capitol had not changed us." His head had dropped, and his normally vibrant eyes dull.

"You are important. More so than you know." Haymitch said and looked between Peeta and her.

"What do we need to do?" Katniss asked, eager, she had waited for this moment for years. It was a chance to strike back.

"Nothing for now, your show was enough." He paused, "I'm tired of saying it, but for now, you just have to stay alive." He moved closer to them.

"That means no arbitrary acts of courage, you have to regain the love of the capitol, while keeping the trust of the districts. You have to be the star-crossed lovers they came to adore, you have to be perfect." He spoke quickly, in a hushed whisper.

He stared at Peeta, "from now on, you will use the speeches from the capitol."

Peeta nodded, his hands were still balled into fists, and she could see that his knuckles were white from lack of blood circulation.

"And you, just stand still and look pretty." Haymitch said and laughed, "that's all you have to do." The conversation was over, she could see Effie in the distance. They walked towards her.

"What were you doing out there?" She asked when they got close enough for them to hear.

"I was out of liquor, I made them come. It's time for them to start, don't you think?" Haymitch grinned at her.

Katniss could see Effie's lips tighten and her eyes narrow, and saw her open her mouth to answer.

Katniss did not hear Effie's response. Her mind was still on the matter ahead, she wondered if Gale knew. She knew he would be excited, just like her, he had waited his entire life for this. Then she thought of Peeta, kind hearted Peeta. She looked over at him, he spoke with Effie, and he smiled and laughed. She needed him, he was so much better at this than she was.

* * *

They followed Haymitch's advice, and for district ten and nine it worked perfectly. Peeta spoke, and she stood still like a doll, and looked pretty. Sometimes she also said some words, but Peeta was a much better speaker than she was, the words got another dimension when he used them.

They arrived at district eight late at night, Effie had already gone to bed when the train started to slow down.

She sat with Peeta in the dining car, they sat opposite each other on the couch. They had spent the last few hours alternating between asking and answering questions about themselves. It had been Peeta's idea, and it was a good one. This was the easy part so they had to get this one right.

"What was the first thing you did when you got home?" Peeta asked.

Katniss looked at him sharply, this was not part of the deal. "I thought we were only going to ask couple questions?"

"You need to be able to answer anything, with capitol answers."

He was right, there were going to be other questions as well, not just about them as a couple.

"I don't want to tell them." She told him honestly. She had hugged Prim, and then gone to sleep. It was a rather uneventful evening, but it had been private. She did not want the capitol to know more about Prim than they already did.

"Then lie, but you have to tell a good one."

She could feel her head ache and her legs had started to grow restless. They had been on this for several hours already. This was so easy for Peeta, she wondered how he had become so good at lying.

Effie came into the room, she was carrying a stack of paper. "Your speeches." She said and handed them over.

Katniss scanned her speech, it was similar to the others, with a lot of talk about honour and pride, and how thankful they were to the capitol. She could feel her headache grow worse, she needed a break. She looked at Peeta, who still stared at it.

Peeta dropped the speech, the paper floated slowly towards the ground, his face had gone pale, and his eyes were wide open.

She grabbed at the letter, but she was too far away. Peeta snatched it first and folded it neatly. Then he smiled at her, and walked off. The skin around his eyes did not move.

She called after him, but he did not turn back.

* * *

Katniss spent most of her nights awake, whenever she fell asleep she would have nightmares. She had not had one quiet night of sleep since the victory tour began, and she was not the only one. Peeta and Haymitch often appeared with bloodshot eyes in the morning, though for Haymitch it might be the liquor.

This night was not an exception, the clock had just passed two and she did not feel tired at all. She listened for movements elsewhere in the train, and tried extra hard to hear what Peeta was doing. Sometimes she could hear muffled sounds in the middle of the night; she was curious as to their origin, but felt uncomfortable asking.

Katniss opened the door to the hallway slowly, to make as little noise as possible. She stepped out from her room, and walked quietly to the dining car. She felt claustrophobic, she had spent so much time in her own room. The door between the two cars was already open, which was surprising as she had been the last person to go to bed, and she distinctly remembered that she had closed it.

The answer came to her in the form of Peeta, who sat at his usual spot by the table. They had not discussed this, but by some unspoken rule the four of them always sat at the same spots. He was hunched over a piece of paper. She knew, even without seeing it up close, that it was the speech. She could see that his shoulders were drawn up, it almost made him look like he had no neck, and his arms were pressed close to his body.

She marched over to him, and had almost reached the couch when Peeta looked up. She snatched the paper from his hands. He lunged for it, but she had already moved away. She held behind her, out of his reach.

"What is it?"

"Give it back." He stood up.

"Not until you tell me what's going on." She glared at him.

They stood there for a moment, and assessed each other, then Peeta sat down heavily and sighed.

"Okay, you win. I will tell you, "he said, his voice tired.

She moved over to the couch and sat down beside him, still keeping the speech out of his reach, she folded her right leg under her body, allowing her to face him comfortably.

"Do you remember, back in the Hunger games, the girl from district eight?" He asked, but continued before she could answer.

"I met her, in the arena. I was still with the careers at the time; things went pretty much as you would expect."

She winced, the careers were known for their brutality.

"They didn't kill her." He said, and she sat up straighter. "No, they left that job to me," he smiled at her, it was a bitter, twisted smile and it scared her. "I'm a murderer."

"No," she shook her head, "you are the only one of us that is not." She grabbed his hand, and held it between her two. "I saw it, on television afterwards. You didn't kill her, the careers did;-"he turned away, she clenched his hand hard, "-you saved her from suffering."

She gestured at the speech, "What does it say?" she asked softly, she had left it on the table when she grabbed his hand. He picked it up with his other hand; he made no move to remove the other one.

He took a deep breath and started to read, "I am very happy to have won the Hunger games. Most of all to come and see you and your beautiful district. I have to especially commend you on the clothing, I am sure most of my suits originated from within this district.

"The two tributes from district eight fought like real champions, which is why it was such a shame that they left us so early. "

"Stop, that's horrible,-" Katniss said, she felt vomit at the back of her throat. "-you can't say that; they will hate you."

"I know." He said, and sighed. "Do they really need me though?" The question caused Katniss to stop for a second.

"What do you mean?"

Peeta licked his lips, "Do they really need me for the rebellion? I can be in the capitol, to try to sway people to our side, the rebellion needs you, not me."

"You're an idiot." She told him frankly, "Where would I be without you? I would be dead, that's where. No I'm afraid none of us has the option of tapping out."

He smiled, the skin around his eyes did not move. She could tell that he did not believe her. She let go of his hand, and poked him hard in the chest, "no more thoughts like that."

He smiled, this time the skin did move. She smiled back, but quickly grew embarrassed at their proximity. Her fingers rested on his chest, and she had leaned forwards as she spoke; she could see every detail of his face clearly. He was so handsome.

She drew back, and placed her hand in her lap. Heat settled in her cheeks and she knew that she was blushing. She peeked over at Peeta, he was looking at the paper in his hands. Maybe he did not notice, that would be best. She looked closer, there was a tinge of red on his cheeks.

"What do we do?" he asked.

"We have to change it," this was obvious to her.

"We can't, Haymitch's orders." Peeta shook his head firmly.

"Screw Haymitch, there is no way you're saying this." She could not believe that he even considered it.

"Then what?"

"You have to make a new one, with equal amount of drawl about the capitol, but without angering the districts."

"I'm not sure that's possible" he said, dubious.

"You can do it, you have to." It was simple, at least in her eyes.

They spent the next two hours working on his speech, but did not get far, he was right, it was difficult. Then he went back to bed, he told her to do the same thing, and she actually felt tired for a change. She went to bed, and fell asleep quickly.

* * *

She woke up on the floor, drenched in sweat.

She walked over to the dining table, the shower had helped, but she still felt drowsy due to lack of sleep.

"Good morning," she said absentmindedly to Haymitch and Effie, who were already seated at the table.

"Good morning to you too sunshine." Haymitch said, entirely too cheerful; he was probably drunk already.

"Finally," Effie said. "I hope you are prepared today, this is a very important district. You need to be on your best behaviour." She stressed the word need.

Katniss wanted to glare at her, but she was really too tired to bother. She grabbed a glass and filled it with water, she took a few sips; it helped a little bit.

Peeta walked in, he had dark circles under his eyes, and looked half dead. He did not look like he had slept at all. He sat down beside her, she filled up his glass with water. They did not speak during breakfast; instead they listened to Haymitch and Effie bicker. Katniss ate a piece of bread, she was going to hear it from Prim when she got back, but she could not help it, her stomach seemed to revolt whenever she brought food towards her mouth.

Peeta ate healthily, which she took as a good sign, maybe he had worked something out, or he could just be hungry. After breakfast they met with the prep team, Cinna was not there. He was busy in the capitol. This only caused her to dislike the other stylist even more, they were such lacklustre substitutes.

The market square was too far away to walk, so they went by car. Three big, black cars came to pick them up, they were similar to the ones the peacekeepers used in twelve. She got in the second car with Peeta, Haymitch and Effie was in the car behind them.

The road was old, and full of holes; the driver had to drive zigzag to avoid them.

"Did you get it done?" She whispered, they sat alone in the backseat. The guard in the front seat kept shooting glances back at them.

"Yes," he whispered back.

She gazed out the window, like in the previous districts, there was no one walking the streets. The streets were bare, and grey, there was hardly any vegetation anywhere. Even more than the districts before it, district eight lacked life.

They arrived at the scene, and like in the other districts, they walked in the backdoor. Avoiding any contact with the people. Soon she and Peeta stood hand in hand, and faced the door which she knew would lead to the stage. The door opened, light flooded through, blinding her.

They walked out, her mouth stretched, and formed a smile. Peeta had told her that the smile was not for the crowd, it was for the people in the capitol, who watched this on their television screens. So she smiled, and she knew that Peeta did the same beside her.

She walked up to the microphone, her speech was short. She tried to employ some of the techniques Peeta had taught her, but knew that no one in the crowd bought it.

Then it was Peeta's turn to speak. He walked over to the microphone slowly, and took it off the stand it was attached to. He held it up to his mouth, and started to speak.

"It is a great honour to be here, the clothes made here are legendary by their quality." He took a deep breath, "I am sorry!-" he said, and let the words hang in the air.

"-for wearing something not made from here. The next time I come I will be sure to amend that.

I am thankful to Panem for giving me the opportunity, through the Hunger games, for me to see this place, and meet the lovely people living here. I will keep you all in my heart, and pray for your safety. You should be proud of your tributes, they fought like true champions. "He stopped speaking, and placed the microphone back on its stand.

Peeta stepped back a few feet, Katniss moved closer to stand next to him, he reached around her with one arm and held her to him. She put one arm around his shoulders, they waved. The response from the crowd was silence.

They stayed like that for a few breaths, then they went back into the house. Katniss did not relax until she heard the door click shut behind them, then she finally allowed her smile to drop.

Haymitch grinned at them, and clapped slowly as they walked over, "you handled that very well."

Effie's response, on the other hand, was more reserved, she smiled, her lips a thin line. Katniss narrowed her eyes at her, was she on their side or the capitol's?

"That was marvellous! I think our job here is done, let us go back to the train." Effie said.

"Hold on a minute, there is someone who has asked to meet our tributes." Haymitch said.

"I don't think that's appro-"

"It's the mayor, I don't think we have the luxury to decline." Haymitch said.

Effie did not look happy, but did not protest as Peeta and Katniss was led away. They walked through a corridor, then up some stairs. The peacekeepers that led them stopped outside a door. This door was larger than the ones surrounding it, making it evident that this was the most important room in the house. As they approached they heard someone call out from the inside.

"Please enter." It was a woman's voice.

Katniss looked at Peeta, he nodded at her, she took his hand and they entered together. They needed to show a collected front.

It was a large room, the floor was covered by carpets. She studied the walls, what she saw made her stomach turn, and caused her to want to flee immediately; the wall was covered by pictures, moving pictures of past tributes. She looked around for anyone she recognized, she did not find either of the two from the 74th Hunger games, but she recognized several others. Victors, of previous games.

It sickened her, and from the pressure she felt from Peeta's hand, he felt the same way.

"You can stop that now," the woman said, and pointed toward their intertwined hands. "There are no cameras in here." Neither of them let go, instead she fastened her grip, this woman was dangerous.

"My name is Paylor, I am the leader of this district. It is a pleasure to meet you." She said, and smiled. She had dark skin, and even darker hair, which reached just below her shoulders.

"I'm Peeta Mellark, and this is Katniss Everdeen." Peeta introduced them, he was smiling, his teeth shone brightly.

"I know." Paylor was looking only at Peeta, Katniss felt invisible.

"Did you write your own speech?" Paylor asked.

"No-"Katniss blurted out,"-the capitol made it."

Paylor was not looking at her, "and you? Did the capitol make yours as well?"

"Yes," he lied.

"All of it?" Paylor pressed on.

Peeta hesitated, which was enough for Paylor. "I thought so, it was good, I am impressed. We are going to need that in the future."

"Need what?" Katniss snapped, she was tired of being ignored.

For the first time since entering, Paylor directed all her attention towards Katniss. "I think you know the answer to that." She looked between Katniss and Peeta a few times, then laughed, her laugh sounded oddly similar to Haymitch's. "You may leave, I have kept you long enough."

"Thank you, it was a pleasure." Peeta said. Katniss left quickly, and dragged Peeta with her.

There was no peacekeepers stationed outside the door.

"What was that all about?" Katniss whispered, she let go of his hand, and there was an unmistakable edge to her words.

"She is on our side," Peeta answered.

"How do you know?"

"I don't, it was just something about the way she spoke."

Katniss was not so sure, Peeta had good instincts when it came to people, but he did not have the same experiences as she had. She often dealt with liars and thieves, and Paylor gave her the same impression.

They met with Haymitch and Effie outside the house.

"So?" Haymitch inquired.

Katniss glared at him, she wondered what his plan was, and why he had sent them to her.

"I am sure she was lovely, such an honour, to be personally requested by a mayor, and by one as famous as her." Effie answered for them.

"Yes, she was lovely." Katniss muttered, she walked past them and stepped into one of the waiting cars. Soon Peeta came in after here, they spent the trip in silence, she was not in the mood to talk.

The rest of the evening, they sat in the dining area, Peeta drew, when asked he refused to tell them of what, and all her efforts to peek had proved ineffective.

She went to sleep still thinking about the Hunger games, and the inevitable conflict ahead of them.

* * *

She woke up to a scream, she tried to jump up but there were hands holding her down.

"Katniss, stop-" She could not make out all the words. She kicked out, her foot connected and the hands keeping her down let up. She jumped to the side, and landed off the bed, she got up in a fighting stance.

For the first time she got a good look of her attacker, it was Peeta. She was confused, why would he attack her?

"Katniss, relax. You were having a nightmare." He was massaging his chest gingerly, her foot had hit him there, just above his heart. She looked around, they were alone in the room, and the door was wide open. Her heart was still pumping furiously in her chest, she lowered her fists. It had been her, she had been the one who screamed. She could feel her cheeks heat up, she had not wanted him to see her like this.

"I have them too," Peeta said softly, "the nightmares; almost every night."

She climbed back into bed, and covered her feet with the blanket. She looked at him, he had yet to move from his position, and he was sitting at the edge of her bed.

"Can I stay?" he asked quietly. She could see that his body was shaking slightly, and suddenly it made sense to her, he had woken from a nightmare, and had probably taken to walk the train when he heard her.

She nodded, no longer embarrassed. Her brain wanted her to say no, but she could not, she was too tired.

He crawled up beside her, and laid down on her right. He wriggled under the blanket, and was still.

Even at this distance, she felt the heat radiate off him. For the first time since the start of the victory tour, she slept through the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

They had left district one behind and were on their way to the capitol, there they would attend several events, none of which Katniss looked forward to. They had been on the victory tour for over twelve days now, and had visited eleven districts during that time. She was tired, and glad for the one day they had to relax, when they arrived in the capitol. To build up hype, Haymitch had said; for once she was inclined to agree.

Nothing spectacular happened after district eight, the speeches was terrible, but not directly demeaning, so they did not alter anything, and she had not heard of any more riots. She glanced over at Peeta, he was standing next to her. They were just about to arrive, and had to be ready to depart the train.

Their relationship had changed, and she did not know how she felt about that. After the mess that happened in district eight they had started to spend more time together outside of what was required; they often found each other in the middle of the night. She always slept better after that.

He looked over at her, and she directed her gaze over his shoulder. She did not know if she was blushing or not, she prayed that she was not. Sometimes she was glad that he did not have the same upbringing as her, he was observant enough without having hunting skills to back it up.

The train started to slow down.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"No," she answered, she never felt ready for this sort of thing.

"Just remember, they're all idiots." He said, and grinned. She laughed, her time with him had not been entirely without advantages.

The train came to a complete stop, any time now the doors would be opened. Peeta grabbed her hand, which she took as a cue to start smiling. She could see that a big crowd had gathered outside; ready to welcome them to the capitol.

She started to mumble swearwords under her breath, her smile ever present.

The door slammed open, and noise assaulted her ears. The crowd were so loud; she waved at them. They stepped out from the train and started to walk up the street. It was a two hundred feet long, and fifteen feet broad, there were spectators standing on both sides. At the end of the street, a car waited for them.

"Katniss, Katniss, over here!" People were shouting, she turned toward the sound of her name and waved. She could hear Peeta's name as well, he lifted their joined hands, and received a boom of cheers in response.

They reached the black car, where a peacekeeper opened the door allowing her to climb into it gracefully. The windows were tinted, which hid them from the public. Their hands were still intertwined; she made no move to let go.

The car had barely started moving before it started to slow down again; soon enough it came to a complete stop. The doors opened, she went out on Peeta's side.

"Here it is," Peeta said. They had arrived at the doorstep of a massive white building.

"Yes, the president's mansion. Snow lives here," she said. She had seen it once before, from a distance. They had stopped here on their chariot ride, and Snow had given a speech.

"Good luck," Peeta said.

"You too," she returned. They both knew that once they entered here, all bets were off and every movement they made would be scrutinized.

She took a deep breath and entered the house, it was crowded by guards, all of whom were armed.

"Welcome, to President Snow's mansion," A man waved them over, he was tall and fair skinned, and was wearing too much makeup; his short blond hair that was slicked back. He smiled at them as they approached. It was an arrogant smile, his head leaned back as he stared down at them; he eyed his watch. He did not introduce himself, but instead turned around and started marching away. She glanced confused at Peeta, were they supposed to follow?

He shrugged but did not move. She looked around, there did not seem to be anyone else there to welcome them. They hurried after the blond man, who did not appear to have noticed them lagging behind.

"This mansion has been used by the leaders of Panem for many generations." The man said with a drawl. He did not look at them as he spoke, but kept staring straight ahead, his pace did not slow.

"Very few people have ever stayed here, it is an honour usually reserved to only the most important visitors. You two grabbed the only opportunity you would ever have to come here, and that is commendable." He said, Katniss wanted to hit him, but Peeta had a firm grasp on her right hand.

"Personally, I think everyone should be happy to participate in the Hunger Games, just for the chance to stay here." The man said, and sighed, he touched the walls fondly as he walked. Close up Katniss could see that he was older than he first appeared. The makeup hid it well, but her eyes were trained to spot details, she could see through it easily. She wanted to hit him even more.

"Here you are." He said and walked up to a woman, she was standing at the bottom of a huge carpeted stairway. The woman had short black hair, and was dressed in dark red from top to toe, she was an Avox, a lifelong slave to the capitol. "Take them to their rooms, don't linger, there is much to do." He told her, and left.

Katniss stared after him disgusted, that man was horrible. Peeta pulled on her hand, and they followed the woman up the stairs. Katniss counted the steps to the top, there was twenty-five. Once they reached the top, they went to the left, and entered a narrow corridor; there were no doors on either side. They were alone, not truly alone. In here, there were always someone watching. They reached the end of the corridor, two doors were placed next to each other.

The woman walked up to the door on the left, then she turned around and motioned for Katniss to follow her, she opened the door and allowed Katniss to enter. The female Avox had stopped in the door and prevented Peeta from following after Katniss. She pointed to the adjacent door, once more they lived next door to each other.

The room itself reminded Katniss a lot of the penthouse apartment they had lived in prior to the hunger games, with bright colours and uncomfortable looking furniture.

The door closed behind her, the Avox had left, and she was alone. She wondered what the woman had done to end up an Avox, and what district she had originated from.

* * *

The next day started out slowly, like most mornings she woke up next to Peeta, he had arrived sometime during the night. He slept peacefully; other than mid-nightmare, Peeta made very little sound in his sleep, and usually stayed perfectly still. She slipped out of bed quietly, she did not know what time it was, and he needed the few hours of sleep he got.

The floor was cold, she got dressed quickly and left the bedroom. The breakfast was already served on the table in the living room, the dishes were still lukewarm. The table was set for two. So they already knew about her and Peeta's sleeping arrangements. She glanced at the big clock on the wall; five past eight.

Her eyes flickered towards the bedroom, she should wake Peeta, the food would get cold, and who knew when someone would be up to retrieve them. Still, she hesitated, the interview was not until late afternoon, and she had not heard of any plans before then. She would wait thirty minutes, she decided, and would wake him then.

No more than five minutes later a drowsy Peeta stumbled into the room, he scanned the room franticly, his eyes eventually found hers and she could see him visibly relax. He straightened his back and walked over to the table.

As soon as he sat down, the door leading to the hallway opened. Two men dressed in red walked in, they held a big plate between them. It was filled with food, warm food, steam was still rising from it. There was apple-pie, scrambled eggs, French toast and what looked like jam buns. They switched out the lukewarm dishes for the new hotter ones. She scrutinized their faces, to see if she could recognize them, there had been a lot of missing persons from district twelve over the years. Had anyone reached freedom? Or did they all end up here?

A third Avox entered, it was the same woman as before, when the other two left she stayed behind. She was carrying a silver thermos in her hands, she placed it carefully on the table before them. Peeta smiled at her, but she kept her gaze on the floor. Katniss had seen her gesture something to the two men as they left, and they returned another gesture; they were using sign language.

Katniss reached for the thermos, she unscrewed the top and smelled it. The aroma of chocolate filled her nostrils, and she smiled. She grabbed a mug and poured herself a healthy amount, careful not to spill.

"Hot chocolate." She said, and grinned at Peeta. He reached out for it immediately.

She gave the thermos to Peeta, and picked up the mug with both hands, it was already warm. She simply held it for a few seconds, allowing the warmth to spread to her fingers, then she brought it carefully to her lips, and took a sip. She felt a sting as it burned her tongue on the way down, then she took another sip, and another. She downed the entire mug in under a minute, and sat back satisfied, a grin covering her face. Her entire body was warm, she could still taste it on her tongue. She poured herself another mug.

The hours passed quickly, and it was time to leave. They were waiting for someone to come and get them. Soon enough, there was a knock on the door. The Female Avox went to answer it, she had stayed with them the entire time, only leaving once, and then she came back with lunch.

The person outside had knocked twice before the woman reached the door, she opened it quickly. The rude man from the day before pushed past her, he took one look at them before ordering them to follow if they did not want to be left behind. Katniss contemplated not going, but she knew that no good would result from it, so she followed a good distance behind. They walked back the same way they had come, a car stood waiting for them where the other had dropped them off.

They drove across the city, this allowed them to see its true scope. It was huge, many times bigger than the town in district twelve. She saw countless people walking the streets, they looked happy, she scowled; they did not deserve it. They also passed several Avox on the way, they were all dressed in red, and always walked with their head bowed.

* * *

It took her the better part of three hours to get ready.

"Here, look." Cinna said, and held up a mirror so she could view her face. She almost did not recognise herself, she was covered in makeup; it gave her a ghostlike appearance. For once, even her eyes contrasted with the skin around them. Her dress was the only thing about her that was not black and white, and even that had hardly any colours. It was black at the top, with dark violet markings. She sent Cinna a hard look.

He put his hands in front of himself in surrender, "I know, I know, but this is important. You have to look the part." He adjusted the dress slightly, "there, done."

She was up from the chair before the words left his mouth, she stretched her legs, unfortunately the dress did not allow for much movement. She looked at her image in the mirror, "I look just like them." She said softly.

"You look perfect," Cinna said, his voice sad. She eyed him, he looked tired, exhausted even.

Someone knocked on the door, Cinna went over and opened it.

"You have to come with me, now, you are going on in five minutes." A young woman said, panting slightly.

As Katniss passed Cinna he put a hand on her back, "Smile, and be yourself, you will do fine," He said.

It was almost the same words as he had said to her when she was stressed about her first interview. She smiled at him and nodded, but she knew inside that she could not do that. She was no longer the brave girl who sacrificed herself for her sister, she was a victor now. She had to behave accordingly.

Perfect, Haymitch had said; she had to be perfect. She did not know if she could give him that, but she was certainly going to try.

Peeta was waiting for her next to the entrance, they were ordered by the girl to stay and wait until called. He was wearing a dark suit, with a dark violet tie.

"Matching outfits, how cute." She said, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. His hair had been slicked back, and he was wearing makeup. She preferred him without.

"Did you see Effie or Haymitch?" Peeta asked, he sounded worried.

"No," she said. She had not seen them, it even worried her; they had always been together when in the capitol.

There was a huge cheer from behind the door, and she could hear the booming voice of Caesar Flickerman as he introduced himself. Any moment now someone would come for them. She grabbed Peeta's hand, he squeezed hers reassuringly.

Sure enough, five seconds later a middle-aged woman with short blonde hair appeared from the door, they followed her. They stopped at the edge of the stage, just outside the view of the audience.

"Enough about me," Caesar said. Then added, "if that's even possible." He laughed, and the crowd laughed with him. "Let me welcome our guests, who need no introduction." She felt a hand push her forwards, and walked on stage, hand in hand with Peeta.

"Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark!" Caesar shouted.

She smiled and waved as she made her way over to the couch, she sat down lightly, and crossed her legs. She had Peeta between her and Caesar.

Caesar waited for the applause to die down.

"Welcome, welcome. We are of course very happy to have you with us once more! You two just got back from the victory tour. Tell me, how was it? Was it as lovely as it seemed?" He asked.

Katniss leaned toward him and said," it was better."

Caesar laughed, "Good to hear it, wouldn't want our victors to have a hard time would we?" He asked toward the audience, and received a resounding no.

"But, that's not really what I want to know about. No, I want to know about you two, how has it been? You're not sick of her yet are you?" He asked Peeta.

Peeta answered quickly, "I don't think that's possible." He smiled.

The crowd gushed. "Are they not the best?" Caesar asked the crowd, they shouted their agreement.

"Do you two have any grand plans for the future? Any big news on the horizon?"

"No." Katniss answered, Peeta hastened to elaborate; "it has been an incredible eight months for us, I don't know what the future brings, but if it's anything compared to this. Then I welcome it, and can't wait to share it with you guys."

"A perfect answer if I ever heard one." Caesar said, and laughed. He leaned forwards in preparation for his next question.

"So, tell me, what are you two doing tonight?" Caesar asked.

"We are going to the gala dinner." Peeta answered.

"Yes you are, and so are we." He gestured towards the audience.

"Are you excited? To go back, back to where it all started? To stand in the arena, this time, instead of fighting for your life, you will be fighting off admirers. Let me tell you, I have never been more excited in my life." Caesar said, and turned toward the screen behind him. It was a big screen, it stretched over half the stage.

"Where you fought, where you killed." A video summary of last year's Hunger Games was showing on the screen, Katniss could see Peeta kill the girl from district eight, then they showed her shoot the boy from district one. Then the video slowed down, and it zoomed in on her and Peeta kissing in the cave. "Where you fell in love." Caesar said, softly. The screen froze, she and Peeta were still kissing; she looked away.

"We are very excited, it is going to be great to relive the memories." Peeta said, she eyed him wearily, what was he on about? They could not be serious, it was impossible, the gala dinner was always held in Snow's mansion.

"And you Katniss? What are your thoughts?" Caesar asked her, he spoke slowly now, in stark contrast to his previous questions. Katniss stared at Peeta, he clenched her hand.

"I am looking forward to it." She said. She stared Caesar directly in the eye. Peeta clenched her hand harder, it made her left arm twitch. She directed her gaze to him instead, she tried to smile, but was not sure if she managed it.

"Yes, you are understanding it correctly." Caesar was once more speaking to the audience, "for the first time in the Hunger Games history, there will be a gala in the arena. Is that not exciting?" Once more the response from the audience was a resounding yes.

"Unfortunately, I am afraid we will have to stop here." Caesar said, to loud boos from the crowd. "Yes, yes I know. It has been so long, we don't want to let them go. But we have to, the gala awaits them." He stood up. Peeta dragged her up with him, they bowed and walked out.

Well outside the door she rounded on him.

"Did you know? Why would you keep-"

He cut her off," I didn't, I would have told you, I swear." She believed him, but that did not make her any less angry.

She paced back and forth cursing under her breath, Peeta stood by the side motionless.

"Stop that." A familiar voice said, it was Haymitch. Katniss saw Effie behind him, and she felt her rage grow stronger.

"Why?" She asked, it was the only question she cared about.

"I don't know,-" A grimace appeared on Haymitch's face." Snow is twisted like that."

She did not want to go there, not now, not ever. They wanted her to go back, dressed like a clown, and be nice, be nice to the people responsible. The people who sent twenty-four kids into an arena to die, she could not, she would rather kill them all.

"We are sorry we could not tell you sooner, but it was a secret until just now. We had heard that it was going to be held at a secret location, but we never assumed…"Effie trailed off.

Katniss glared at her, Effie was part of it too.

Peeta poked her in the shoulder, "It's okay; we will be okay." He said, his voice gentle. His clenched fist told another story, but his words had the desired effect on her. She was not doing this for herself, she was doing it for Prim, for her mother, for Peeta. She felt the fight leave her and suddenly felt old, weary, and so very tired.

* * *

They were alone in the room; just her and Peeta. It had been over an hour since the interview and they were still waiting. Effie had said that they needed to be late, so that the other guests could arrive.

Katniss stepped into the tube that would take them up. Peeta on her side, her hand was already enclosed in his; this was all becoming second nature to her. The launch pad was big enough to room them both, it slowly ascended. They reached the surface, noise assaulted her ears, she wanted to reach up and rub them, but refrained. She recognized it immediately, the Cornucopia was identical to how she remembered it.

Where the other platforms had been, there were now lights, illuminating the arena.

The reception was similar to the one they got from the train, there was a narrow road in the middle, surrounded by cheering people. However, this time the journey did not end in a car that would swish them away, this time the road led to the Cornucopia, and they had nowhere to hide.

She smiled as she walked, it was a strained smile; her jaw was already hurting from the effort. They did not wave this time, but walked hand in hand until they reached the Cornucopia, then they stopped and waited. Unsure of what they were supposed to do next. A few second passed and then a voice filled the arena, it was President Snow.

"Welcome, welcome. To the seventy-forth Hunger Game arena, very few has set their feet here and lived." There was cheers from the crowd, "But now, you have the once in a lifetime opportunity, to not only walk the arena, but also to speak with the victors." She felt eyes on her, it made her skin crawl.

"Enjoy your evening!" He said, and the speech was over. The crowd gave him a loud applause, she was still holding on to Peeta so she did not join in. Effie came over and seized her arm, just above the elbow, and pulled her along with her. Katniss dragged Peeta with them.

"There are so many people you have to meet." Effie said, and continued to walk, expertly dodging the approaching crowd. "Important people," she added as an afterthought. Finally Effie stopped, in front of a big bloated man, with blond hair as long as his face, he grinned widely at them. Katniss stood with Peeta on her right side, and Effie on her left.

"Claudius dear, let me introduce you to Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark." Effie said, her voice was even chirpier than usual.

"Children, this is Claudius Templesmith. I am sure you can recognize his voice, he is the announcer of the hunger games." Effie said.

"Now, now. I only said a few words. Don't make me seem so important" Claudius said, but the way he puffed his chest and lifted his chin told her that he believed otherwise. Katniss recognized his voice, it had been part of her nightmares. His slogan 'May the odds be ever in your favour' was burned into her mind.

"They are the real champions." He said, and leaned towards Katniss. "You should know, you were always my favourite." He said, he held his hands intertwined in front of his body, his lips were shaking slightly. Katniss narrowed her eyes, he was lying.

"Thank you," she said, and smiled. The fake smile that she had practised for hours in the train.

"We have to move on, people are waiting. It was nice seeing you." Effie said, and pulled them along, Katniss focused all her attention on not tripping over her own feet, the dress was so tight that she had to take small steps.

"Excuse me," A young girl said from behind them.

"Yes?" Effie asked.

"President Snow has asked to see her." The little girl said, and pointed to Katniss. Her stomach sunk, her throat was dry, and she felt a heavy weight press down on her chest. She nodded.

"I'll come too." Peeta said.

"No, only her." The girl said firmly and once more pointed towards her.

"It's okay." Katniss said, and untangled her hand from his grasp. "I will be right back."

The girl stepped forwards and took her now empty hand, they walked together through the crowd, at the edge of the forest the girl let go of her hand.

"He is right in there, waiting for you." She said

Katniss continued on alone.

She walked maybe one hundred feet into the forest before she came to a clearing, in the middle of it there was a small table, and two chairs, one of which were occupied by Snow. She marched over and sat down hard on the other chair, the table was between them, a microphone rested on it. His cold, dark eyes followed her every move.

"Miss Everdeen, the girl on fire. You look beautiful, Mr Mellark must be happy." He spoke slowly, deliberately. She did not respond.

He regarded her silently, his lips formed a small smile. "Do you think you are the first? The first to challenge the capitol and appear seemingly unscratched on the other side?"

"No." She answered firmly, defiant, there was bound to be others.

"You are correct, I remember the first. He was very impressive, used our technology against us. Do you know who it is that I am referring to? He asked her.

She had no idea, she remembered some of the previous victors, but that was mostly for their brutality.

"I don't think you do, I don't think anyone do, because your victory is only relevant until their next loss." He said, she stared at him defiantly. "And after that, a hero's fall makes a good story, don't you think?"

"I don't." She said through gritted teeth. She was not going to just fall over and die.

"Don't do anything rash, people's lives are dependent on your actions, or, lack thereof." He smirked.

"Your role in this is over, don't fight it." He said. She got up and started to leave, the chair fell over from her forcefulness. As she walked away he called after her, "And Miss Everdeen? Please send in Mr Mellark, and remember, smile!"

She halted, and turned back to glare at him. He was looking directly at her, a nasty smirk on his face. She spun around and began the trip out from the forest, twigs snapped loudly beneath her feet. The young girl was gone when she reached the end of the forest, instead she spotted Peeta waiting for her. He saw her immediately and rushed over.

"What did he say?" He asked.

She shook her head, she did not want to talk about it.

"You have to go in," she said. "He wants to speak with you." His eyes widened, and he took a step back. Then he clenched his jaw and straightened his back, he nodded at her as he moved past her and entered the forest. She gazed after him and caught a last glimpse of blonde hair as he disappeared into the darkness.

She sat down on the ground, intending to wait for him, as he had done for her. But she could not stay still and soon were on her feet again. Her heart was beating quickly, she wiped her sweaty hands on her dress. She paced back and forth, her gaze alternating between the ground and the forest path.

She took a step onto the path, then stopped, it was a bad idea. She would get caught. Barely fifteen seconds had passed since Peeta disappeared, if she moved now she could catch up before he reached the clearing. She started to run, using her skills learned from hunting to move fast and quietly.

She saw Peeta just as he walked into the clearing, she scanned the area, and looked for a place to spy from. There was a tall tree just in front of her, which reached out over the nearby trees. However, the lowest branch was over ten feet up in the air. She took a few feet back, then sprinted toward it, her dress hindered her movement significantly; she put one leg to the three trunk and pushed off it hard. She reached out and grasped for the branch, she smirked as she felt her hand closed around it. She pulled herself up and laid down on top of it, breathing heavily. She peered over to the clearing; she could see everything clearly.

Peeta was standing in front of the table, next to the chair, Snow was still sitting at the same spot he had when she left him. They stared at each other; no words had been spoken.

"Mr Mellark." Snow said, finally, and inclined his head at Peeta.

"President Snow." Peeta said, and sat down. She could not see his face, as his back was to her.

"I have been following your actions, and I must say I am confused." Snow said.

"Anything I can help you with?" Peeta asked. Katniss smirked, his formal tone almost disguised the rudeness of the question.

"Why are you working so hard? You survived, why work so hard to die?"

"I am only trying to…"

"She does not love you, you know, she can't. " Snow said, he reminded her of a snake ready to bite as he leaned forward. "She is not capable of it. It is all for the cameras."

"I am sorry sir, but what did you call me here for?" Peeta asked, his voice was controlled. He gave no indication that the words meant anything to him.

"To remind you." Snow leaned back in his chair, "you can go." He said.

Peeta rose from the chair, and walked away from the table. He glanced up, and their eyes met, she saw his eyes widen and his mouth open. He took another step, his foot got caught by a root, and he stumbled, but he managed to catch himself in time to avoid falling. Peeta did not look up at her as he straightened back up, and marched away. She jumped down from the tree and ran off after him.

She caught up with him just as he was leaving the forest, she grabbed his arm and turned him around to face her.

"I…" She said, but was tongue-tied, she had no words to say.

"You don't have to say anything, everything is fine. We are friends, nothing more. I am okay with that." Peeta said, he was grinning, but his eyes were sad, he drew his hand from her grasp and moved away from her.

She stood there and clutched the spot his arm had just been.

"Don't go." She said softly, she had wanted him to stay.

* * *

The train ride back to district twelve was a long one, she hardly spoke to anyone. Effie had stayed in the capitol to make things ready for this year's Hunger Games, so it was only Haymitch, Peeta and her. She had tried to speak to Peeta about the day before, but she could not find the words to describe how she felt, so she chickened out. Haymitch was still drunk from the gala, and he spent most of the day in his own room.

She frowned unhappily, this felt all too familiar. She did not like it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4****:**

District twelve was different when she returned, she felt it the second she stepped off the train. The wind was colder, there was a heavy fog covering the town. She almost thought they had gone the wrong way, and somehow ended up in district eight, but the familiar buildings and the heavy air told her that this was home.

There was no one there to greet them, and as she and Peeta walked toward the Victor Village there was not a sound to be heard from anywhere, the town seemed deserted. It was early morning, the time was just after seven. She increased her pace, and heard Peeta do the same to keep up. As she reached the village she broke into a run, she took the steps up to the door in two's, and threw the door to her house wide open. She was breathing rapidly, and her hand was shaking as she felt the doorknob to the living room. She opened it slowly.

"You're home!" Something collided with her stomach, she looked down; it was buttercup. He hit the ground softly, and hissed at her before he stalked off, out the door. She had never been so happy to see him as she was right then, she even refrained from hissing back.

Arms enclosed around her, it was Prim; she was the one who had spoken. Katniss hugged her tightly, and murmured words into her hair. They were okay, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

The next day, Katniss went out to hunt, she had yet to calm down from the tour. Hunting had been one of the most frequent things on her mind for the last two weeks, and it was where she was most comfortable. It was just before dawn, the darkness hid her from prying eyes. She snuck past two peacekeepers on the way there, two more than normal.

She reached the electric fence, and looked around for a stick. The fence was normally turned off during the early morning hours, but she always double checked, her father had taught her that. She found a small twig and threw it at the fence.

There was a menacing buzz, she stepped back a few feet, the power was on; she glanced around. She could still go through it, there was a hole in the fence, further down the road.. She started jogging towards it, it was risky, but she really wanted to hunt.

She found it easily and crawled through it, it was a tight fit and she almost touched the fence with her left foot. As soon as she was on the other side her body was lighter, her chains were removed, she was free here; no one could touch her. The sun peeked over the horizon.

She ran on, the bow already in hand; her eyes searched for game. The further she got from the town the fresher the air, even the surrounding trees looked healthier. Still, there was no sign of any animals.

Fifteen minutes later she stopped, there was movements on her left, behind an old oak tree. A squirrel, she drew an arrow and put it on the string. She pulled it back quietly and aimed. She let it fly, it hit the squirrel dead in the eye.

* * *

She jogged back to the house, easily avoiding the two peacekeepers, who were still standing at the same spot. There might be more of them, but that did not make them any smarter.

She met Prim in the living room, she was eating breakfast. Katniss placed two dead squirrels on the dining table, and dropped down beside Prim, she was worn out from the hunt.

"What are you doing up?" Katniss asked, it was still early in the morning.

"Wanted to see you off; slept too long." Prim said, her voice drowsy, she stifled a yawn.

Katniss laughed quietly, "Well, here I am. The fence was on, but I managed to get through."

"Oh, right. I forgot to tell you," Prim said, then took a big bite of her sandwich, and forced Katniss to wait. "There's been a lot of changes since you left. There is a new head peacekeeper, he arrived a few days after you left, and brought a lot of new peacekeepers with him." That explained the two peacekeepers she had seen.

"He gathered us all in the square and told us that things were changing. The next day, the people in town found…" She got up and walked out to the hallway, she returned a few seconds later, now with a paper in hand. "These nailed on the doors." Prim gave it to Katniss, who immediately started to read. It explained a number of new regulations, among them, no one were allowed to walk outside other than under specific errands, and never after ten or before eight.

Everything was starting to fall into place. There was no one outside because they were not allowed to. "The rules don't apply to us, not in the victor's village." Prim said. Katniss nodded, still focused on the paper in her hand.

"Mom will be up soon, she is going to teach me how to mend a broken leg today." Prim said, and looked excitedly up at her. The sudden mood change caught Katniss off guard, but she smiled back.

There was a knock on the door, Katniss glanced at the clock; it read seven-thirty. She looked at Prim, who shook her head, she did not know either.

Katniss walked up to the door slowly, something smelled really well, it was cinnamon. She opened the door, it was Peeta; he was carrying a basket with a small blanket covering it. This was strange, they did not speak much on the journey back, what was he doing here so soon?

She glanced at the basket, and leaned closer to smell, definitely cinnamon.

"Peeta!" Prim said excitedly from behind Katniss.

"Hey, I brought you something." Peeta said, and smiled kindly at them.

Katniss narrowed her eyes at him, she was not going to accept any charity. As if he was reading her mind Peeta spoke up, "It's not charity, I made too much, and would rather you have it then throwing it away."

Prim moved past her, they were still standing in the doorway, she reached into the basket and took out a cinnamon-bun. She held it up to her face, smelled it, and took a bite.

"This is really good." She exclaimed happily, she grabbed another and snuck past Katniss and back into the living room.

"Do you want to come inside?" Katniss asked, and took a step back. He nodded and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. She moved into the living room and heard him follow her. He put the basket down on the dining table, some distance away from the dead squirrels.

Katniss sat down on the sofa, next to Prim. Even from here she could smell the buns, they smelled delicious. Peeta did not sit down, he stood awkwardly beside the table.

"I saw you come back, did you hunt already?" He asked. Katniss realised that he did not have anyone there to explain it to him, he lived in the house alone as his family had chosen to stay in town. She told him about the new rules, when she was done talking he closed his eyes tiredly, and sighed. He did not look shocked, just resigned, an expression mirrored on her own face.

"Something was bound to happen," Peeta said.

"Yeah…" Katniss said and trailed off.

They sat in silence.

"I need to get back, I have a bread in the oven." Peeta said, and stood up. Katniss got up too and followed him to the door.

"Thank you, for the buns." She said awkwardly, she was holding the door, he was a few steps away from her, outside.

"No problem," he said, and smiled. "You should eat them now, they are best when they're warm."

He left, and she closed the door slowly. Back in the living room, Prim was standing by the windows, she turned when Katniss walked in.

"What are you doing?" Katniss asked.

"I was watching your goodbye," Prim said. Katniss narrowed her eyes at her, she glanced at the basket.

"I'm going to wake up mom. Oh, and Gale was by yesterday, he wanted to see you." Prim said, she had a strange look on her face, she closed the door behind her.

Gale, she had almost forgotten about him. Gale needed to hunt, the new regulations would hurt him a lot; his family would not survive without the game brought in from hunting. She sprinted out to the hallway, and put on a brown coat, it was heavy, made of excellent quality; it was the only thing she had bought since the Hunger Games.

She glanced at the clock, it was ten to eight; she should probably wait the ten minutes. She took off her coat and moved back into the living room, she sat down heavily on the couch. She stared out in space, the seconds ticked by slowly. She eyed the clock again, five minutes had passed, five minutes to go. Finally it was eight, she got up from the couch, and walked out; she grabbed the coat on the way.

Just to be safe, she kept to the shadows, avoiding the peacekeepers. Before long she found herself standing on the doorsteps of the Hawthorne household.

She knocked twice and stood back to wait.

There was loud noises from inside, she smiled; this house would never be silent. Black hair appeared out the upstairs window, soon a face became visible. It was Rory, Gale's little brother.

"Hey," she said, and waved up at him.

"Hey." He waved back, and turned around and yelled," Gale! Katniss is here." She heard some more sounds from inside.

"He will be there in a sec," Rory said.

Katniss thanked him and stood back to wait, there was not much else to do. The door opened and the tall, strong figure of Gale Hawthorne stepped out.

"Catnip," he said, and smiled slightly.

"Hey." She stepped back, to signal that they should talk alone. Gale nodded, and closed the door behind him. She raised her hand, to wave goodbye to Rory, but he was already gone. She shrugged and walked away. She did not stop until they had reached the outskirt of the Seam, they took cover behind a small shed which hid them from the main road.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Gale asked, his tone formal.

"I'm back," she said, a bit hesitantly.

"I can see that." He folded his hands across his chest, and stared at her, his grey eyes unblinking.

She frowned, she had not spent a lot of time with Gale after the Hunger Games, but that was not her fault, he was always in the mines.

"What's your problem?" She asked.

Gale nostril's flared, and his eyes narrowed. "Why are you even here? Got bored of the fancy house?" His voice was harsh.

"Screw you," she said, her voice rising. She spun around, he had asked for her, she was not ready for this. She walked away from him.

"Wait." He called after her. She stopped but did not turn back.

"I'm sorry, it's just a lot. You and him, on TV and everything. " He sighed.

She closed her eyes, her anger gone. She went back to stand beside him. "I know, it's not easy for me either." She said.

"Rory has been asking me to teach him how to hunt, he told me that he was old enough to help." He smiled grimly, proud yet concerned.

She smiled, Rory had always reminded her of Gale. "He is going to be a great hunter." She said, even though she knew it was not what he wanted to hear.

"I know," Gale said, "but it's too early." She did not argue, and for once was happy that Prim had chosen to follow in her mother's footsteps instead of hers. Hunting was dangerous in the best of times, right now, with the increased surveillance, it could possibly be deadly.

They stood in silence, it was nice.

Gale shifted his weight between his feet, he was looking at the ground; his eyes sharp, focused. He suddenly turned to her, she was worried; he never acted like this.

"Katniss," he said. His attention was entirely on her. She adjusted her braid, wary of whatever was coming next.

"I love you." He blurted out. She froze, he did not just say, why would he do that?

"What?" She asked.

"I love you." He said again, more assuredly. Silence, it was not the nice, peaceful silence from before, she was still frozen, her mind a mess of conflicted thoughts.

"I just needed you to know," he said, and finally looked away. She let out the breath she had been holding. Her heart was racing.

"I'm sorry. I don't…" Somehow she managed to stumble on the words.

"That's okay, in my heart I always knew." He smiled at her, it was a sad smile. "But I had to give it a go you know?" She did not really know, and did not ask.

"I need to go back, work soon." He said, and started walking away.

"Wait," she said, loudly. She halted, she did not know what to say. She did not feel the same way, to her, he was a friend. He understood her better than anyone except Prim, she did not want to ruin that.

"Best friends," she said. "You are my best friend. I can't give you any more than that."

He winced, it was not what he wanted to hear.

"Want to go hunt on Sunday?" she asked.

"Sure," he said, and left. She was alone, maybe that was the best. What was it with the boys in her life, they always made things so complicated.

* * *

The months passed quickly, and the Hunger Games were approaching fast. The day of the quarter quell announcement was here. The entire district was in low spirits, as they always were at this time a year, but this time would be different from normal.

It was an anniversary year, seventy five years had passed since the creation of the games. It was time for the third quarter quell.

So, in addition to the fear they always felt, now, they also felt dread.

The games would be different this year, as they had been the two previous quells. For the first quarter quell, the district had been told to decide their own tributes. For the poor districts that meant they had to choose who would die. The second quarter quell had been worse, there was no clever rule change this time. For the second quarter quell, they merely doubled the amount of tributes, four from each district, two boys and two girls.

Katniss spent most her time hunting, the money she got as a victor meant that she never had to hunt for herself. The people in the Seam were not so fortunate. Things had gotten so bad that they had even stopped making a fuss about the game she brought them. The people living there was proud folk, they normally did not want to accept charity from anyone.

The rest of her time she spent with Prim, and occasionally Peeta. He would often come by around breakfast, and bring them freshly baked goods. They ate together, Prim and Peeta got on well with each other.

"It's today isn't it?" Prim asked. It was early in the morning, Katniss had just arrived back from a fruitless hunt, and sat on a chair by the dining table. She had not even tried to sleep the night before, she had too much on her mind.

"Yeah, today we'll know." Then in the afternoon they will come to collect, she added silently to herself. It was the day of the reaping. The front door opened; a delicious smell of cheese and bread filled the room. Peeta had arrived.

"Hey," he said as he walked in, he sat the basket on the table in front of her. She lifted the blanket, cheese buns; her favourite. She eyed him, he was too kind. He spoke with Prim, and had his back to her.

"Thanks," Katniss said, and grabbed a bun. Prim had pointed out the irony of her resistance; that she gave food to the poor in Seam, but refused to receive anything herself.

"My pleasure," Peeta said.

She made sure to drop off some game at his doorsteps from time to time, he needed to eat meat too.

"What do you think it will be?" Prim asked, her voice barely audible. She had moved away from Peeta, and stood in the middle of the room, she was so young. Her eyes were fixed on the television, it was turned off. Katniss clenched her jaw, something horrible she knew.

"I don't know." She answered. There were no words of comfort, she reached out and brought Prim close to her for a hug. Prim did not react to it at first, her body was tense, but eventually she relaxed into it.

"I'm going to get some air." Peeta said, she nodded in acknowledgment, her face still burrowed in Prim's hair.

"You should go with him," Prim said.

"No, I need to be here, with you." Katniss mumbled, and shook her head.

"Then be fast." Prim pushed away from her and faced Katniss.

Katniss frowned, she did not want to. Prim was looking at her with a firm look on her face, she was just as stubborn as Katniss when she wanted to be. Prim gestured towards the door. Katniss sighed, she stood up and went to find Peeta.

She found him just outside, he was sitting; his back against the house. She walked over and sat down beside him. He raised his head as she approached, and opened his mouth, but no words came out. The victor's village was always so quiet, it was disconcerting.

"What do you think will happen to us?" He asked.

"We will survive," she answered. Their shoulders were touching, she leaned against him.

"We will be mentors this year," he said.

"Yeah." She answered. They had not discussed this, but it was obvious to her, they could not trust Haymitch to do a good job.

"We will have to prepare them, to die; to survive at all costs." He said, his voice weary.

"We can do it," she said. Neither of them believed her.

There was silence, it lasted for too long. She shifted uncomfortably, there was so many unspoken truths. See and you will believe they say, she wanted to close her eyes.

"Let's go," she said, and got up. She reached out to him, he took her hand and she helped him up. "It's time for the announcement." It was a sunny day, it did not fit with her mood. Katniss loved the sun; it kept her warm.

Prim sat with her mother, who had a hand around her, keeping her safe.

Katniss sat beside them, Peeta brought a chair over from the table.

The television was already on, it was showing a video montage from earlier Hunger Games. She recognized several of them, there was a boy who died from starvation, which had been in the seventy-first games; then there was a young girl with golden hair, she died from an arrow through her neck, the sixty-ninth games.

The video faded out, and Snow appeared on the screen; she almost preferred the video from the games. He was standing on a pulpit, and waved to the live audience.

"Thank you," he said as the applause died down. "The seventy-fifth Hunger Games, the third quarter quell. " He spoke slowly and distinctly.

"People are born different, the hunger games taught us that. The capitol and the districts, the strong and the weak. The rebels want you to believe that there is strength in beliefs, there is not. Only power can grant strength. Even the most gifted need help from the capitol to survive, this time, we will give the tributes even more help." Snow paused, his snake like eyes were staring right at her.

Katniss leaned forwards in anticipation, she was tense, uneasy about what he would say next.

"For the first time in history, the viewers will influence the games from the beginning. There will be four tributes reaped from each district. Then the viewers will have one hour, to decide who they want in the hunger games. Only one will be chosen in the end, to fight for honour in the arena. The rest, will be discarded." He smiled, a cruel smile. The screen went dark.

Katniss ground her teeth, her eyes narrowed, she stared at the dark screen. The sofa cushions moved and she sunk a little deeper into it. Her mother had stood up and taken Prim with her.

"We have to get you ready," her mother said. She looked at Prim with critical eyes. "We have to do something with that hair."

"I will do it," Katniss said. Her voice louder than she intended.

"Good," her mother said, she gave Prim a kiss on the top of her head and left.

"I'll see you at the reaping," Katniss said to Peeta, who nodded and he left too.

Prim sat down on one of the kitchen chairs, Katniss started to work on the hair. Katniss always kept her own hair in a single braid, Prim styled hers in two.

Katniss split the hair down the middle, and then drew one half to the left and the other to the right. She began with the left.

"Could I have it in one? Like you do." Prim asked, Katniss stopped working and glanced at her. She was standing behind her, so all she could see was the back of Prim's head.

"Of course," Katniss said, and brought the hair back together.

* * *

Katniss stood beside her mother, behind the fence which separated the possible tributes from the rest. She looked over at them, they were divided by age and gender. Four names would be called, four people would walk up to the stage, likely to their doom.

Prim was at the right, she wore a light blue dress; it reached down to just above her ankles. It had been Katniss's once, she had worn it to her first reaping. This was only Prim's second, the odds were on her side. Katniss shuddered, it did not make a difference the last time.

Peeta was standing a good twenty feet to the left of Katniss, with his father and two brothers beside him. They were all too old to be reaped. She did not see his mother anywhere, which was one thing to be happy for.

She could not see Gale anywhere, nor anyone else from his family. They probably stood at the back, Katniss was standing in the front, in the middle of everyone else.

Effie appeared at the stage, she was wearing a green dress, and had two big leaves of the same green colour, in her hair.

"Welcome, welcome." Her hands were kept together in front of her body, like they always were when she was nervous.

"To the third quarter quell." An obligatory pause, in case of applause, there was none.

"Well, let us get started." She said, an uneasy smile on her face, she went over to the glass bowl on her left. "Like always, ladies first." She reached into it and stirred, the small pieces of paper moved around her hand. She grabbed one, she pulled it out deftly and brought it up to her eyes.

"The first female tribute candidate is, Lettie Skire." The name rang out across the crowd. Katniss tried to find her amongst the other girls, but no one moved. Then suddenly a young girl stepped forwards, tears were streaming down her face and sobs rocked her small body.

She was young, at Prim's age, or even younger. Katniss looked around frantically, hoping that someone would volunteer, this child would not stand a chance.

Lettie reached the stage and stopped beside Effie, who smiled down at her.

"The second female tribute candidate will be, Madge Undersee." Effie said and her eyes scanned the crowd.

Katniss swore loudly. Madge had been her best friend growing up. She touched the Mockingjay pin, it had been given to her by Madge, when she was chosen as tribute.

Unlike the girl before her, Madge did not hesitate, she moved swiftly to stand beside Effie. She was beautiful, her dark blue dress fit her perfectly. The two girls looked like total opposite of each other. Madge was tall, beautiful and daughter of the mayor, Lettie was short, crying and from the Seam.

Effie moved over to the other bowl. Prim had not been chosen, Katniss was only slightly relieved.

"The boys." She said simply. She stirred the bowl, and grabbed one of the pieces. She held it between her thumb and forefinger.

"The first male tribute candidate is, Pope Gray." She said.

He was a burly boy, with dark hair and a crooked nose. He moved toward the stage with long confident steps. Katniss had seen him around, he had been in the same year as her in school; yet she could not remember ever speaking to him.

Effie looked so flimsy where she stood beside him.

"The second male tribute candidate will be, Brannock Keene." Effie said.

A tall boy walked up to the stage, he had long, thin limbs and his face was drawn. His skin tone and hair colour told her that he too was from the Seam. Katniss studied the four candidates, the two boys had no chance; the capitol would never go for dirty and rough. That left the two girls, it would be close. Would they go for pitiful and innocent, or prideful and attractive?

"Thank you." Effie said, her bubbly voice irritated Katniss. "Now to allow the votes to come in, we will wait for one hour. " She took a step back, away from the microphone, but made no move to leave the stage. The tribute candidates were forced to stand motionless, on display, waiting for the judgement of the filthy rich. Katniss was cold, she could do nothing, and it was eating her up inside.

The young girl had stopped sobbing, she fell to the floor and now sat with her knees tucked up to her chest, she held a firm grip around them, her eyes were glazed over, she was living the nightmare.

The two boys were also affected, she noted that they were shaking, their body protesting because the muscles had been tense for too long, a grimace spread across the tall boy's face, he looked ready to fall.

Only Madge seemed unaffected by it all, her face was blank, neither happiness nor sorrow could be found. Her posture was upright, she held her head high.

The minutes ticked by, two peacekeepers picked up the girl and made her stand again. Her legs were shaking horribly, and her head was facing downwards, she had shrunken in on herself.

The only sounds came from the shuffling of feet. After a long time Effie stepped forwards again, she was holding an envelope in her right hand.

"The moment of truth." She said, and ran a hand along the envelope. She opened it slowly, her fingers barely touching the paper. Finally, she reached into it with two fingers and took out a small slip of paper. She held it up to her eyes and read.

"Madge Undersee."

It was over, resignation was plainly visible in the two boys, their heads had dropped, tears ran down the burly boys face; they knew what was coming. The young girl made no movement, there was no indication that she had heard anything.

Peacekeepers walked to the stage and escorted the three of them away, there was no resistance. Katniss watched them disappear, she closed her eyes; she never wanted to open them again. Katniss was starting to get an understanding for Haymitch, and she did not like it.

Madge stood alone on the stage, she had been moved to the middle, all eyes rested on her. Two peacekeepers walked over, she followed them out the back door; it closed loudly behind her. Katniss's eyes found Peeta, his eyes were downcast and his shoulders hunched. Their earlier conversation came back to her, Madge's life would be in their hands; Katniss was determined to make her survive.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

Katniss walked across the room and began up the stairs. It was a quiet night, the only sound came from her own footsteps. She reached the top and pulled the door open firmly. She halted in the doorway and took a deep breath, she smiled slightly, this was better.

It was dark and gloomy outside, but it was never truly pitch-black here, not like it was in the districts. The lights from the buildings, moving cars and the lamp posts at the side of the road ensured that the streets always were illuminated.

She had spent the entire day on the train, travelling to the capitol. Her legs itched from lack of physical exercise, her attempt at sleeping had been unsuccessful, and after a few hours of tossing and turning she gave up. She needed to move, to get some fresh air, so she decided to go up to the roof. The view was great up here, the training centre was one of the tallest buildings in the city, which allowed her to see over the surrounding buildings, and into the distance. The city stretched out as far as she could see.

In daylight the streets below her would be buzzing with life, now they were deserted.

Katniss would never want to live here, it was too restrictive, too many people. She had never liked being surrounded by people, and often went out of her way to avoid it. In the Capitol that was very difficult, as there were people everywhere. Except up here, this was her safe haven, here she could relax.

She had her hair down, as she had been trying to sleep. The wind caused it to blow into her face, she brushed it away, and put it behind her ear. She closed her eyes and simply enjoyed the feeling of wind against her face.

The door opened behind her and she sighed, she wanted to be alone. Regretfully, she turned around, it was Peeta.

"Hey," he said. He was fully dressed, in a green shirt and black pants. His eyes were tired, but his hair was still styled perfectly. He did not look like he had slept at all.

"Hey," she said, and went back to looking at the city. He came over to stand next to her, his shirt ruffled in the wind. Two peacekeepers crossed the street below her, they moved slowly, seemingly without purpose. She watched as they disappeared around the corner and out of sight.

"We're back," he whispered.

"Yeah," she said, softly.

"What do we do now?" he asked, more loudly.

"We have to help her. We have to find out what her strengths are, and help her to make them useful." She answered. In her eyes it was their only way forwards, as it would give Madge the best chance for survival. Her eyes scanned the buildings around her, alert, lights were on in several apartments, and occasionally she would spot shadows moving past the windows, but it was too dark to see anything clearly.

"We should look for allies," Peeta said.

Katniss shook her head. "No, there will only be twelve tributes this time. It is too risky."

"It will give her a better chance to survive the initial combat. After that, everything is possible." Peeta said.

Katniss disagreed, she had given this a lot of thought. "The games will be different this year, they can't afford the initial bloodbath. They have to make the games last, and keep the suspense going."

"Did you notice that we stopped in district eight on the way here?" he asked, changing the subject.

She nodded, the train had stopped briefly, in district eight. She had been in her cabin at the time, and had thought nothing off it, maybe the train needed some fuel.

"Paylor was there, I saw her get on the train," he said.

Her head snapped towards him, this was news to her.

He said, "I did not see her afterwards, so it is possible that she got off again."

"I wonder what she is doing," Katniss whispered, her brow furrowed as she tried to work out the possibilities. It was highly likely that she had stayed on the train and therefore joined them to the capitol. Why else expose herself to them and the Capitol. She could have met with Haymitch in secret if a meeting was all she needed.

"Maybe she is here for the games…"Peeta said, "a lot of important people come to the Capitol to be part of the celebrations."

"Maybe," Katniss said, unconvinced.

They stood in silence, a car drove past below, leaving an exhaust cloud behind.

"I'm going back to bed," he said suddenly. She watched him go in silence, now that he left she did not want him to go.

She would need to follow after him soon. Her body could not withstand more sleepless nights, her energy already suffered. She sat down heavily, her back against the railing, she gazed up at the night sky. It was a cloudy night, the stars were hidden from her eyes.

Tomorrow everything would start again, but this time her role was different. She needed to make someone else survive, and it worried her.

Thirty minutes passed before she started to make her way back down the stairs. She walked past both Madge's and Peeta's room on her way to her own, both had their lights turned off. She sank back into her bed, the soft mattress yielded to her weight and formed around her back. She was tired, and her head ached, she needed to sleep.

Her legs started to itch almost immediately, the blanket was heavy and too warm; it trapped her. The trip up to the roof and back had not been enough. She tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position. Her left leg was halfway over the blanket which covered the other leg, the pillow was in-between her left arm and her head. Her right arm was lying awkwardly in front of her body. She opened her eyes and glanced at the clock on her nightstand, three-twenty.

Katniss threw the pillow at it, it flew across the room and collided noisily with the wall. She sat up, her eyes narrowed. She got out from the bed and with a few firm steps, she walked out of the room. Her feet took her to another door, adjacent to her own. She knocked once, lightly, then opened the door.

Peeta sat up in the bed, he stared at her with a frown. She gave him a grim look and walked resolutely up to the bed.

"Scoot over," she said. He hesitated but did as asked, she collapsed on the bed beside him. She grabbed a piece of the blanked, and closed her eyes. The bed shifted as Peeta adjusted his body beside her, soon the only sound came from his slow, regular breathing.

Katniss slept.

* * *

The day of the first training session was upon them and Katniss was nervous. Nervous for Madge, nervous for what her competition would look like.

They sat around the dining table; her, Peeta, Madge and Haymitch. Effie had already gone off somewhere, leaving them to discuss tactics.

Haymitch ate pancakes, with an unhealthy amount of syrup on top. They were listening to the radio while they waited for him to finish up.

"The weather is going from bad to worse in district ten, and I must tell you…" The broadcast was cut short as Haymitch turned it off.

"Okay, done. Let's get down to business." He stared directly at Madge, "is there anything you are good at?" he asked bluntly. Katniss winced, but said nothing. Haymitch had more experience at this; she would allow him to run the show, for now.

Madge glared at him. "Nothing that will be of any use in the arena," she said bitterly. The stone faced girl that had won over the people from Capitol was gone, replaced with a cynical realist. The initial shock from getting picked had settled and been replaced with fury.

Haymitch's eyebrows rose, "well, that's it then."

"What?" Madge said, her eyes wide, her hands shook slightly.

"I can't help you then,-"he paused, "-combat skills is not what will keep you alive." He touched his head with a crooked finger. "It's what's up here, there has been victors in the game who never fought anyone." His eyes were sharp, focused. "So tell me again, what can you do? What will make you survive?" he asked.

"Hold on," Katniss said. Haymitch glared at her, with surprising intensity. It only made her push on, "she is not like us."

"I…"Madge said, and hesitated, "I am pretty good at hiding, and I can move without anyone hearing."

"Good," Haymitch said. "That's something."

"Focus on learning survival skills today, making fire and setting traps. Once you have a basic understanding for it, then move towards the combat stations." Haymitch said.

Madge nodded, there was some fire in her eyes now.

"Scout out your opponents, find out their strengths and weaknesses." Katniss said.

Peeta spoke up, "talk to them; make some connections."

"But don't get attached." Katniss was quick to cut in. "There won't be a rule change this time," she said, and looked pointedly at Peeta.

"Make some friends," Haymitch said, Katniss sent a glare in his direction. "But, more important than that, avoid making enemies."

"Now, you should go. Take the elevator down to floor zero, someone will meet you there to guide you." Haymitch said.

Madge nodded, and got up to leave. Her mask of indifference was back on, hiding all her emotions. Katniss watched her walk away in silence, then when the elevator door closed behind her, she snapped towards Peeta.

"Why did you do that? No one will want to team up with her, and if they do it is only so they don't have to search for her. She is a mayor's daughter for god's sake." Her voice was loud and angry.

"This year it's different, there is no careers, no volunteers. For once, everyone start out the same." Peeta said, just as heatedly.

Haymitch laughed, they turned towards him angrily.

"You are both wrong. She is going to die out there, but it is not because she is the mayor's daughter or because she didn't team up with someone. It is because she is untrained, unfit, and lack the guts for it." he said, then turned towards Peeta. "And, what are you talking about? Don't you remember your own games? The careers were dangerous, but so was everyone else. Can you remember anyone like Madge there? How do you think she would have done?

"During your games the tributes was decided by chance, this time the people of capitol decided. Who do you think they would pick? The weak farmer boy, the sweet little child? Or the strong, scary butcher?" He said, his voice rough.

"Then why did they choose Madge?" Peeta asked, heatedly.

Haymitch shrugged. "She was unlucky, she was simply the best of the worst."

Haymitch sat back tiredly, his grey eyes dull. "She only have one chance of survival, and that is with a lot of luck." He looked at them, "and sponsors. That is where you two come in, the capitol still loves you, which should give us an edge going into this."

He paused, and glanced at the clock hanging on the wall behind Katniss. "We have to go, wouldn't want to be late now would we."

Katniss furrowed her brow, "Where are we going?" she asked as she got up to follow him. Haymitch walked up to the elevator and pressed the calling button. The number on the top of the elevator doors changed from zero to one, and then kept going upwards until it reached twelve. The doors opened and the three of them stepped into it.

He smirked. "We are going to see some old friends."

They went in the same direction as she had gone one year ago, but instead of taking a left to enter the training hall, they took a right and up some stairs. At the top there was a plateau, where a peacekeeper stood guard in front of a dark brown door. He opened it for them as they approached.

"Thank you dear." Haymitch said and made an extravagant bow as they walked past him. The guard did not react, and stood stock still, eyes facing forwards.

They entered a large room, with white walls and parquet floors. People were spread out around the room, standing in small groups and chatting amongst themselves. As they walked in, everyone turned in their direction.

Haymitch grinned, and turned towards Katniss and Peeta. "Let me introduce you, to the finest people in Capitol." He said loudly, and gestured around the room. "Sponsors, go mingle." He added, quietly, for their ears only.

Katniss scanned the room, she did not recognize any of the people here. Haymitch moved away from the door, and into the room, leaving her and Peeta standing awkwardly behind. Haymitch drew some of the attention with him when he left, but most of the onlookers still stared openly at her and Peeta.

There were both men and women here, both frail and strong. Most of them seemed to be middle-aged or younger, but it was hard to tell with the makeup. Everyone in here had massive amounts on, she could not see anyone that had a natural look about them. It was the one thing that everyone in Capitol had in common, that and the bad posture, everyone seemed to have their head tilted backwards, and it could not be comfortable for the neck. Katniss rubbed her own in sympathy.

A group suddenly broke off from the rest and approached them, it consisted of three women and one man. The man was portly, he was wearing blue jeans and a black shirt, both was too tight for him. The three women were almost identical to each other, they wore tight tops and short skirts, the only difference were the colouring. Katniss decided to call them black, blue and yellow.

"Hi, you are Katniss Everdeen?" Blue asked.

It was more of a statement than a question. "Yes," Katniss answered, and tried to smile. She was out of practice, so it ended up more somewhere between a smile and a grimace. The amount of perfume that these women wore was making her want to gag. Her response seemed to spur them on, as they moved closer. Soon enough, they were standing in a half circle surrounding her.

"And you must be Peeta Mellark," the woman continued. She had a nagging, chirpy voice, it reminded Katniss of Effie. Blue was looking at Peeta with wide green eyes, her mouth slightly ajar.

"He is," Katniss said quickly. The woman did not turn to her, but kept her eyes on Peeta. Katniss gave up smiling.

"Could you sign this?" the man of the group asked her, and handed her an arrow and a pen. She blinked, how was she supposed to do that? She glanced up at him, he was nodding excitedly at her.

She gave him a blank stare.

"Just on the top there, yes there." he said.

She wanted to jam the arrow down his throat. She gripped the pen tightly, and tried to manoeuvre the arrow in her hand, there was simply no way. But then she had an idea, she put the pen in contact with the side of the arrow, and wrote Katniss, partly on the arrow and partly in the air. She handed the arrow back to him, it was impossible to see her name on it, instead the arrow was covered by lines and dots. He took the arrow with both hands, and held it gently.

Then Peeta was at her side, he grabbed her hand firmly and pulled her away.

"Unfortunately we have to go, but it was very nice meeting you." He said hurriedly over his shoulder as they left the group behind, who waved back with wide grins. Except for the first woman, she was looking at Katniss with narrowed eyes, her mouth was a thin line.

"Why did you want to leave so quickly?" Katniss asked, snarky. Peeta frowned at her, and glanced back at the group. He shuddered, and pulled her further away.

Peeta dragged her over to another group, this one consisted of two men and two women. Both men were wearing dark shirts with violet ties, Katniss smirked at Peeta, he had started a trend. The women had long, free flowing dresses, in grey and green.

"Hi, I am Peeta, and this is Katniss." Peeta said, introducing them.

"We already know, of course." The biggest man said, he continued by introducing the group.

"…and all four of us are from the west side of the capitol."

"The only side really," the woman to his left said.

"Yes, you might as well rename the east part to district thirteen, the people living there..." The second man said with a huff, he was skinnier than the first man, and looked considerably younger.

"I will have to go visit the west part then," Peeta said.

"You must, as soon as possible" the younger man said, "we will be happy to show you around." He added, hopeful.

"Thank you, but for now I am afraid our hands are tied. The hunger games is right around the corner, and we don't want to disappoint." Peeta said. "Next time," he smiled at them.

"The games are going to be amazing this year, I just know it." The older man said, the three others nodded beside him. He turned towards Katniss, "Do you have any hints? Any inside tips? " he asked, there was an unhealthy gleam in his eyes.

"No, I don't." Katniss said. Peeta put an arm around her, "we can't spoil it, but from what I have heard it is going to be spectacular." he said.

The two capitol women glanced between themselves and grinned.

"Pay attention to the tribute from district twelve, she is the one to watch." Katniss said, her words were rushed.

"The games have not even started yet, and here you are, influencing the sponsors. I am not sure that is good practice." A new voice chimed in from behind her, she spun around. It was a man, he was tall, with broad shoulders and blond hair. He was also standing entirely too close to her, barely a foot away, leaning down towards her. Peeta's grip around her tightened.

"Finnick." One of the women squealed, the man in question turned his attention to her and grinned.

"There you are madam Eari, I have been looking all over for you." He took her hand and kissed it. A dark red blush spread across her cheeks, and she giggled.

"I am afraid I need to steal Katniss and Peeta for a bit," he said, and sounded genuinely sad. They said their goodbyes, and followed after Finnick to an empty corner of the room. Katniss had seen him before, on television, he had won the sixty fifth games. She had only been seven at the time, but she remembered it vividly. He had been from one of the career districts, and had emerged victorious through murdering everyone else.

"Here you are, the tributes of legend." he said and smiled.

"What do you want?" Katniss asked stiffly. He was standing further away from her now, but she was uncomfortable under his gaze, it was as if he knew everything about her, it was unnerving. He was an attractive man, even she could see that, and the way he moved, told her of an unnatural agility.

"Just wanted to say hi, we are fellow mentors now. We should be friends," he said.

"We don't need any more friends," Katniss said.

"Maybe you don't," he said, the smile still on his lips. He looked around the room and continued in a hushed tone. "To the Capitol we are nothing more than fancy slaves. We are fascinating brutes, every little act of bravery or intelligence amazes them. In us they see primal instinct." He paused and glanced over to the group they had left earlier. "It excites them."

His eyes were still on the group, Katniss was uneasy, she did not know why he was telling them this, in here, where someone was bound to hear.

"Some simply can't help themselves; they need a closer look." His attention came back to Katniss and Peeta, and for a second Katniss could see a flash of anger in his sea-green eyes, then it was gone.

An elderly woman came over and stood by his side. She had long grey hair and walked unsteadily.

"This is Mags, my mentor," Finnick said. A few seconds later, Haymitch came over too. He gave a curt nod to Finnick and Mags, and then started towards the door, it was their cue to leave.

* * *

When they arrived back to the apartment they found Madge sitting by the window waiting for them. She got up immediately after spotting them.

"How did it go?" Katniss asked her.

Madge smiled brightly, "I did as you said, and stayed by myself in the beginning, focusing on learning how to survive. The others seemed to have the same idea, as we all ended up at different stations. The instructor taught me how to make shelter and to tie knots, then I went over to the combat stations. Most people had gathered around them now, so that seemed like the place to be." She was speaking hurriedly, excitedly.

"Calm down," Haymitch told her. Madge took a few deep breaths, then continued.

"That was where I met Gauis and Theta, tributes from district ten and eleven. They took me aside and asked if I wanted to join their alliance. You should have seen them, they are just like me, children of the mayor. We need to stay together." Madge said.

Katniss narrowed her eyes, this was not good.

Haymitch found himself a drink and settled in the chair by the sofa, the others followed him and sat down as well.

"Tell me about the other tributes." Haymitch said.

"There is Cara from first, Tom from second…"

"No, not their names. Tell me about their skills," Haymitch said impatiently.

"Oh…" Madge hesitated, "well, most of them are larger than me, even the girls. There was one guy that was really good with a spear, and the girl from fifth was throwing around a weird knife…"

"What about the people you allied with? What can they do?" Katniss asked.

"Theta was really good with the plants, she always knew what they did, and Gauis seemed really strong."

"Did you find any weapons that suited you?" Peeta asked.

"I think the bow, I tried it a little, and hit the target twice."

Katniss frowned, "the bow is a really good weapon if you can use it, but if you can't then it's useless. It is not a good weapon for you, you should find something light and sharp instead. Something small that will work well with sneak attacks, so that you can use your abilities to the fullest." She furrowed her brow in thought, "snares might be your best bet; you set them up and then trick people into them."

* * *

The next few days passed quickly, Madge left early every day, and came back a few hours later. Then, the four of them sat down to discuss her training, Katniss and Haymitch mostly asked questions about what Madge did, what the other tributes did, and if there was any game masters watching.

Madge still focused most of her attention on the survival stations, only occasionally going over to throw some knives. Katniss was teaching her how to create snares in the afternoon, away from prying eyes. Madge still had an alliance with the boy from ten and girl from eleven.

"Then you snap it behind here, and you're done." Katniss said, she was showing Madge how to create a basic snare, the one she used to catch rodents and other small animals back home.

Madge nodded, and went to work on her own snare. She drew the string back slowly, making sure it was taut before she slipped it behind, as Katniss had done a few seconds earlier.

"Great," Katniss said. "This one you will be using to hunt for food, as while it will slow down a human if he gets caught, but it will not hinder him for long, as it is easy to get out off." They were on the roof, it gave them the most privacy, and Madge needed to be able to do this in all conditions. The slight wind up here made it a little more challenging.

"The instructor said that it was really difficult to make a snare that could kill someone instantly." Madge said, her voice soft.

Katniss nodded. "Yes, the snares are designed to trap, not to kill."

A shiver ran though Madge, her head was turned downwards, and the hair hid her eyes.

"So I need to kill them myself, in cold blood."

"Yes, you will. They will beg you not to, but you have to go through with it." Katniss said, firmly. "It's them or you, there is no choice." The words were heartless, but she could not back down now. If Madge went in there half-heartedly, she would not stand a chance.

* * *

Katniss and Peeta sat on the floor, their backs against the wall, a wooden door beside them, it led to the stage. They had been here before, not too long ago, but this time it was not them that were going on it. Something that Katniss was eternally grateful for. Madge and the other tributes were standing on the other side of the door, Katniss could hear Caesar loudly; he was interviewing the tribute from district eleven. Madge would be on next. Katniss and Peeta sat out here, as none of the mentors were allowed inside; this was the next best thing.

"She will be okay," Peeta said.

"She will have to, we can only do so much." Katniss rubbed her hands together, not because she was cold, but she needed to keep moving even while sitting still. Peeta grabbed one, and held it still.

"…and now, for our final tribute. Please welcome Madge Undersee from district twelve." Ceasar shouted.

Katniss sat up straighter, all her focus was now on hearing the words from the other side of the door. The applause died down, and Caesar started to speak.

"How are you Madge, can I call you Madge?" Caesar asked.

"Yes, if I can call you Caesar."

"I would be offended if you called me anything but," he said to loud laughter from the audience. Katniss knew that he was smiling, that toothy grin of his, with the sparkly white teeth. How much had it cost him to become like that, how many operations had he gone through? She shook her head, clearing it.

"I must say, you look amazing tonight," Caesar said. "Is that real?" he asked. Katniss could not see them, but she had seen the dress before, when Cinna had brought it to them.

It was a white dress, with light blue markings running from the middle down.

There was silence, Katniss smirked; they had planned this.

Then something happened, and even through the door, she could hear gasps from the audience.

"Wow, I have never," Caesar said. "You can fly? That is bound to give you an edge."

"I wish. Regretfully, it is dress and not me," Madge answered.

"It is still incredible."

"Thank you."

"So, what are we to call you?" Katniss heard suggestions coming from the audience.

"No, no, certainly not." Caesar said, turning each of them down. "I got it, the girl who walks on air. Do you guys like that?" loud cheers from the audience. Then there was a pause as Madge got back to her chair.

"Tell me, how is your first impression of the capitol?" Caesar asked. "And don't tell me about the showers." He added, more laughter from the audience.

Katniss glanced at Peeta, there was a tinge of red on his cheeks. She smirked and bumped her arm into him, he glared at her good naturedly.

"It has been good, but I am afraid I haven't had much time to enjoy the city." Madge said as the laughter died down. She was soft spoken, her voice formal and respectful. The perfect picture of a mayor's daughter. She was the tribute that was the most similar to the people in the Capitol, and they had decided to use that to their advantage. They wanted people from the Capitol to look at Madge and see themselves, their sisters, or children.

"Let us hope you get a chance to change that later, though I am afraid that the experience would be different as a victor."

"I think I could live with that," she said, to cheers from the crowd.

"Madge Undersee everyone, the tribute from district twelve!" Caesar shouted.

Katniss stood up, and drew Peeta up with her.

"That went better than expected," she said.

"Yeah, she did really well." Peeta said.

A few seconds later the door was pushed open and Madge appeared, she looked unfazed by it all. This time Katniss could see through it, they had spent so much time together lately that she was able to pick up subtle cues. Madge's upper lip twitched slightly, and her hands were facing towards her body, she was nervous.

"How did I do?" she asked.

"Didn't you hear them?" Katniss asked, perplexed.

"You did amazing," Peeta supplemented.

A smile spread across Madge's face, and they walked back to the apartment together.

* * *

The man turned the glass around in his hand, and gazed down at the map before him. It was a map of the twelve districts, with the capitol at the centre. He put the glass down on the table, it rested on top of the map.

"That will do fine," the man muttered. He was a small, thin man and had stark white hair. He moved the glass off the map, and his eyes found the spot it had just been occupying. This was where it would start, where his influence was the weakest, but he was not worried. He had prepared for something like this for many years, and as it was, it was too early for them to challenge him.

Even if they succeeded there, it would be for naught. He had something they didn't have, he had someone on the inside.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

"Goodbye," Madge said, her voice hollow. The door closed heavily behind her; a sharp sound told them that it had been locked. Madge was in there alone now and would stay that way until Cinna arrived later to make the finishing touches to her outfit.

Katniss stood on the other side of the door. Frowning she turned and walked away. Peeta was at her side. It was time, finally, for the Hunger Games to begin. The breakfast that morning had been a short one; they had their last tactic meeting, but there was not much left to be said. Madge was as prepared as she could be and was too nervous to listen to any last minute advice.

Katniss turned a corner, neither she nor Peeta spoke. It was just after eight in the morning, and the citizens of the Capitol were just now waking up. The games would not start for another two hours. They reached the outer doors and went through. The glaring sunlight made her flinch; she put her hand up towards the sun, shielding her eyes. Luckily, they did not have to walk far; a big black car was waiting for them at the bottom of the steps.

"Are you coming?" Peeta asked, standing a few feet below her. "Yes," Katniss said, and moved towards him.

The streets were empty as they drove, no cars on the road. They passed the training centre and she barely glanced at it. They were not going back there.

"You are going to break it," Peeta said. His voice brought her mind back to the present.

"What?" she asked.

"The pin." He gestured to her hand.

The Mockingjay pin. She had forgotten about it. She wanted to give it back to Madge, to have her wear it in the arena, but for some reason, she had refused it.

"She wouldn't take it back," Katniss said, and threw it up in the air. Peeta caught it, and brought it up to his eyes to get a closer look.

"It's yours, she gave it to you. I don't really blame her for refusing it," he said, and gave it back to her.

"Why?"

"You wore it into the arena, if she did the same, then people would start to talk." He paused, "and that can be a good thing, but…"

"She can't take the chance," Katniss said as it dawned on her. Peeta nodded.

Katniss twisted the pin around in her hand, it had been with her through the Hunger Games. This was the second time she had tried to give it away, the first time had not gone any better. Some part of her was glad that Madge had refused it as it reminded her of Rue, this pin had been the reason Rue had trusted her.

Katniss brought it up to just above her right breast and pinned it firmly. Her outfit was simple, more fitting for a day in the woods than a Hunger Games celebration. She would remind them all of who she was, and what she had done to get here.

"What are we going to do after this?" he asked quietly.

She looked at him. "Go home, sleep."

"I mean after the games," he said.

She shrugged. "I don't know—go back home, live."

"Do you know the reason why I came over to your house so soon after the Victory Tour?" he asked.

Katniss shook her head.

"I couldn't bear any more time alone. I don't have anything back there Katniss." His eyes were glazed over. He did not look at her and instead stared straight ahead.

"I'm sure you could…" Katniss said.

"Nothing."

She hesitated.

"My parents don't want me staying with them in the bakery, they don't really want me helping, and my brothers are doing their own thing."

"Why not?"

He turned to her, and their eyes met.

"They're scared," he said. "They haven't said anything about it, but I can see it clear as day. Everything they do moves them further away from me."

Katniss frowned. "What about the reaping? I saw you stand together—"

"My father, he tries… But it's splitting my family apart." He took a deep breath. "It's all I'm good at you know. Baking and decorating, it's all I have ever known."

"Then do it on your own," she said firmly.

He shook his head." Compete with my family? I could never do that."

She hesitated, why would he care? They had abandoned him. Katniss glanced at the peacekeeper in the front seat, he was listening to everything they were saying. Peeta did not seem to mind.

"Give it away then, don't sell it. Give it to the people who need it."

Peeta sighed and covered his face with his hands. "But who do I give it to? How do I find the people who really need it?"

Katniss glared at him. "Try the people who are face down in the dirt, sick and exhausted," she said.

He winced. "That was not what I meant—"

"I know…" She sighed. "This place…The Capitol…I hate it," she said bluntly.

He nodded wearily and closed his eyes.

Neither of them spoke after that, and a few minutes later they stopped at the main headquarters of the Hunger Games.

There was a crowd forming outside it, sitting in clusters on the wide staircase leading up to it. The building itself was massive, even to Capitol standards. There were twelve screens plastered to the side of it, each showing a tribute. They were sorted by districts, which left Madge at the very end. Katniss smiled when she saw her. There was no trace of a smile on Madge's face, and her blue eyes stared down at Katniss defiantly.

They reached the top of the stairs and entered the building through two huge blue doors. They walked a few steps before they were stopped by approaching Peacekeepers.

"Stop. Name?"

"Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark," Katniss said.

The man studied her face, then he glanced over at Peeta.

"You can go on."

"Thank you," Peeta said. They moved past the peacekeeper and through a door behind him. Their guards had stopped at the entrance so they walked alone.

They entered an enormous room, many stories tall; they could fit her house ten times over in here. Even so it was overcrowded with people. Katniss noticed several men and women wearing black and violet. She even saw a woman wearing a red dress identical to the one she had worn to her first interview with Caesar. Could it catch fire too? They entered the crowd and tried to manoeuvre through it while still being on the lookout for Effie or Haymitch. Peeta walked in front and used his superior strength to slowly make his way forwards.

"Excuse me," a man to her left said as he was pushed aside. He glared at her, she glared back and he flinched. They moved further into the room, and soon reached the middle. They now stood directly beneath a large golden chandelier.

"Watch out," A woman said. Katniss's automatically moved to the side, avoiding her. Her attention had been elsewhere and they had almost collided.

Katniss rolled her eyes and walked past her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something that made her stop. The woman was wearing a Mockingjay pin.

"Where did you get that?" Katniss asked roughly.

The woman raised her eyebrows, then glanced down to the pin. She touched it gingerly.

"I got it specially made, is it not perfect?" Her Capitol accent was pronounced.

"It is…" Katniss trailed off; it was identical to her own.

The woman leaned closer to Katniss. "Wait a minute, you are Katniss Everdeen!" she exclaimed. Katniss winced, any minute now the rest of the crowd would notice them, and there would be chaos.

"No, I'm not," Katniss said, and walked away briskly. She saw Peeta further along, he was standing beside Effie.

"There you are, follow me. This place is not for us, not yet," Effie said. She moved to the wall on their right, and up the staircase at the end. Katniss cast a glance down at the people below as she ascended, they were smiling and laughing. Nearly everyone had a glass of some turbid fluid in hand.

A man stared at her; he had red lines running down from his eyes. Tears of blood. He waved at her and smiled widely. Katniss scowled at him. The man stopped smiling. Peeta nudged her with his elbow and she raised her left eyebrow at him.

They entered an empty corridor. There were only doors on one side.

The doors were numbered from one to twelve. "Over here," Effie said. She walked over to the door on the very end, the one numbered twelve and knocked twice. The door swung open and they walked inside.

"About time," Haymitch said. He was the only person in the room. Katniss's eyes scanned the room; it was not very big, but the four of them had no problem moving around in it. There were two sofas at one end, against the wall. There was a glass table in front of the left sofa, but other than that, there was nothing that caught her attention.

Katniss walked over to the left sofa and sat down lightly. "So, this is where we will be staying?"

"Yep," Haymitch said, holding a small object. He raised his arm, and pointed it towards the wall. Nothing happened. He swore. "Why won't it work?" He shook it a few times, then he brought it up to his ear and shook it again. It made no sound.

"What are you doing?" Peeta asked.

"Trying to get it to work." Haymitch said through gritted teeth.

"Give it to me," Effie said. She had remained standing by the door, and now moved to stand beside Haymitch by the opposing wall. Effie held her hand out expectantly.

"I know it was something like this," Haymitch muttered and shook the remote in the direction of the wall.

"You are breaking it," Effie said and reached for it.

"Maybe like this?" he said loudly. He turned his back to Effie. Katniss rolled her eyes.

Peeta snatched the object from Haymitch's grasp, and handed it to Effie. She headed towards the sofas. Up close Katniss could see that it was a controller of some sort, it had numbers from zero to nine on the top half, like the TV controller back in District Twelve. The bottom part however, was different; it was a shade lighter in colour than the rest, and looked to have a protective cover over it.

"Hey, I was using that," Haymitch said. His lips formed a thin line and he narrowed his eyes.

"No, you weren't," Effie said and shook her head. She pointed the controller towards the table and pressed the big red button on top.

Nothing happened.

Then suddenly, the table changed colour. It flashed red, then went back to being transparent, then it flashed red again. It did this a few times before it settled on a light green colour.

Peeta walked over and sat down on the couch to Katniss's right. Katniss leaned forwards and reached out with her hand. She touched the table gently, then drew back as a shimmer passed across the screen. Her eyes widened, and she did it again, with the same result.

"What is this?" Katniss asked as she put the palm of her hand against the table.

"It's a table tablet, it registers your touch and allows you to control things using the table," Effie said.

As soon as she withdrew her hand Peeta put his own palm against the table with the same result.

"Nothing is happening," Haymitch said.

"It's not working yet. Be patient," Effie said frowning.

The colour flickered and became dark blue instead.

"Ah, here we go," Effie said. Letters appeared on the screen and a woman spoke.

"Welcome to the third Quarter Quell!"

The room was suddenly very bright, as the opposite wall started glowing dark blue, the same colour as the table. Effie moved her hands over the table and started touching different parts of it. The blue screen on the wall changed into a map.

"Is that-?" Peeta asked.

"Yes, that's the Arena," Haymitch said.

Katniss got up and moved closer to the wall; Effie sat down on the sofa and continued to fiddle with the tablet.

"What is it?" Katniss asked.

"It's an island," Peeta said.

"Yes, I saw that. I mean this part in the middle. Where it says start," Katniss said. She pointed to the middle, it was a round black circle; the word start could be read in red letters.

"I don't know, I have never seen anything like it before," Haymitch said. "Zoom in here," he said, and pointed to the circle.

A few seconds later, the map changed as the middle part was enlarged.

"Thanks," he said absentmindedly.

Unfortunately, zooming in did nothing to help them, as the black circle remained the same, it just got bigger.

"Maybe they just want to keep us in the dark until the start," Peeta suggested.

"No, I don't think so. They don't gain anything from that. It's already out of our hands; we can't influence anything." Haymitch said and scratched his greying beard. "There is something more to this." He shrugged." At least we don't have to wait for long," he said and walked over to sit beside Effie on the sofa.

Katniss glanced over at the clock beside the door, nine fifty-five, only five minutes left. "Could you zoom out again?" she asked. She wanted to get another look at the entire map.

"Of course," Effie said.

"So, this half is a forest, and this other half is…"

"It looks like buildings. A city?" Peeta asked hesitantly.

"Probably some abandoned project, now used for amusement," Haymitch said.

Katniss did not move until she had memorized the entire map. One and a half minutes remained when she finally sat alongside Peeta on the second sofa.

The screen changed again, it was now pitch black. Effie's fingers flew over the tablet.

"It's finally here, the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games." A man's voice boomed into the room, Katniss recognized it as Claudius Templesmith, the announcer of the Hunger Games. The screen changed, and three faces became visible. Claudius Templesmith was on the left; she did not recognize the two others.

"I am joined here in the studio by two previous victors. They have been kind enough to grace us with their presence, the amazing Gloss and the breathtakingly beautiful Enobaria.

"Gloss, what do you think of this year's tributes?" Claudius asked.

"I think it's going to be a good year, hopefully worthy of the third Quarter Quell." He said, his voice formal.

Enobaria huffed.

"What about you Enobaria? Do you have any favourites?" Claudius asked.

"District Two, she's going to win," she said. While Gloss's voice had been clear and respectful, Enobaria seemed to have more trouble getting her words out. Her face made a grimace whenever she spoke.

"She is certainly one of the favourites." A new picture appeared on the screen, a dark haired girl. "Wren Hayes, seventeen years old and 5'10. She received a ten in training; the best out of everyone."

Then the camera was back to Claudius, who stared directly at it. "Now, there is only thirty seconds left, so we will return to the tributes as they prepare themselves to begin."

The screen became dark again, but this time there was some light flickering in the distance. Effie let out a huff of annoyance. Her fingers danced over the tablet. Then the screen colour changed to light green, and Effie sat back and let out a breath.

With night vision turned on, Katniss could finally see the tributes.

"They are under ground," Haymitch said.

The twelve tributes were standing on platforms surrounding the only light source in the room. A stage. Katniss was willing to bet that this was where the weapons and supplies were.

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

Claudius had started the countdown. Katniss leaned forwards, only touching the sofa slightly. Her eyes scanned after Madge.

"There!" Peeta said, and pointed to a figure in the far back. She squinted, and finally saw her. Madge was standing on the balls of her feet, her clenched fists were held tensely down at her sides; her head moved from left to right.

"Seven!"

"Six!"

"Five!"

"She can't see anything," Katniss said, realizing what the movement meant.

"This is dangerous," Haymitch said, his eyes were wide open and he was also sitting on the edge of the sofa. Madge faced the stage.

"She has to go the other way," Peeta said.

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

Katniss gritted her teeth, and fumbled around for Peeta's hand. She grabbed it tightly.

"One!"

She held her breath.

"GO!" Claudius screamed. The Hunger Games started.

Katniss's eyes were fixed on Madge.

Madge moved backwards immediately, and did not stop until her back rested against the wall. Then she turned away from the stage, and walked in the other direction. Many of the other tributes did the same thing, but not all of them. As soon as Claudius had started the games, at least four of the tributes had sprinted towards the light.

Katniss recognized them as the tributes from district One, Two, Four and ten.

"That's one of Madge's friends," Peeta said.

"Gaius. What's he doing?" Katniss asked.

"He's going to get himself killed," Haymitch said.

Katniss's eyes went back to Madge.

She walked along the wall, away from the light. She moved hesitantly and quietly, and kept one hand on the wall as she moved. She stopped every few steps, listened, and then started to move again.

She reached the end of the wall, and her hand groped in the air, searching for contact. Eventually she turned the corner, and stood at the entrance of one of the many hallways that led away from the area. Madge turned around and Katniss saw her frown as her eyes searched through the darkness.

"She's looking for her friends," Peeta said.

Katniss bit her lip. "She can't wait for them."

"The first casualty is a fact!" Claudius voice boomed.

The camera angle changed, and Katniss lost sight of Madge. They were now watching the stage; the light gave them a much clearer image. There was a boy and a girl, the girl was standing over the boy. She had a knife in hand, blood was dripping from it. It was the girl from District Two, she turned both ways, then snatched a backpack from the ground and sprinted out into the darkness, directly towards Madge.

The camera zoomed in on the boy. He was on his back, blood was gushing from a wound in his neck. His mouth was open and his eyes wide; he had not seen it coming. He was from District One. One dead, eleven left.

"Hah!" Enobaria said. "I told you."

"Yes, you did." Claudius said and laughed.

Katniss swallowed thickly. "It really is going to be different this year," She said weakly.

Peeta nodded.

Then the camera angle changed, and they were following two boys, from Districts Eight and Nine, as they were crawling through a narrow tunnel.

Katniss frowned, she wanted them to go back to Madge.

"Go to Madge's camera," Haymitch said.

The camera changed, first to the boy from district Six, then to the girl from District Four, and after a few more jumps they finally found Madge. She was running.

"Turn the camera around," Katniss shouted.

"I can't," Effie said with a shaky voice.

Katniss swore and clenched Peeta's hand tightly.

Madge turned the corner, there was only one way to run, for her and for whatever was chasing her. They could hear two sets of footsteps.

"What do we have here?" Claudius asked.

"It looks like we don't have to wait long for our second death," Enobaria said, sounding giddy.

"Don't speak too soon; this place is a labyrinth. There will be plenty of places to hide," Gloss said.

"Doesn't matter; when Wren has gotten sight of her prey, they won't escape." Enobaria said confidently.

Katniss clenched her other hand too, this one grasping air. Wren was the girl from District Two.

"Run, run, run!" She said, each word louder than the previous.

It was still pitch black; there would be places to hide.

The hallway split into three.

"Go left," Peeta mumbled.

Madge did not slow down as she reached the junction, but headed straight to the right.

Peeta made a face.

The camera angle changed, it was much closer now, and with audio. Madge had stopped a few feet into the hallway and sat crouched against the wall, her breathing laboured.

"Go back to the other camera," Haymitch demanded.

They saw Wren, her head swung from left to right. The camera zoomed in on her face, she was frowning. She grabbed her bag and rummaged through it. Katniss froze. If she had night vision goggles in there, it would be over in a second. Madge had nothing to defend herself with, and the girl had already shown herself to be ruthless.

"Only half the backpacks are equipped with night vision goggles, did she grab the right one?" Claudius asked. After a few more seconds Wren gave up, and closed the bag again. "That is too bad," Claudius said and sighed loudly. "She still has a one in three chance of choosing the right path. Can she do it? Or will the tribute from District Twelve, Madge, live to see another day?" He spoke rapidly.

Katniss scowled. "Just wait," she muttered.

Madge had started to crawl away, and was now thirty feet from the junction.

Wren took the middle corridor, much to the disappointment of the commentators. Katniss took a deep breath; Madge was safe for now.

"Show the map," Haymitch said.

A few seconds later a map covered the screen, it was different from the one they had seen earlier. This was a map of the labyrinth, with numbered dots that gave away each tribute's position. The Number One dot was grey, the others red.

Katniss found Madge's quickly; she was moving away from everyone else. Katniss's eyes traced the hallway Madge was in, it went to the edge of the map and disappeared.

"I will figure this out," Haymitch said and turned towards them. "You two have to go down and talk to the people downstairs."

"I'm staying here," Katniss said.

"No," he said harshly. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What are you going to do here? The only good thing you can do right now is to talk to sponsors."

"What are we going to tell them? She hasn't done anything yet," Peeta said.

"Wrong. She lived." Haymitch said, and ran a hand through his blonde hair. "Tell them about her, only small titbits of information, enough to get them interested."

Effie stood up. "Come along," she said and moved towards the door. Reluctantly, Katniss got up and followed after her. Peeta released her hand, and she massaged it gently, trying to get blood circulation going again.

"Remember, be polite," Effie said. She reached up with her hands, and dragged Katniss's cheeks up into a smile. Katniss slapped her hands away and glowered at her.

"Smile, show those pretty teeth."

Katniss made a face. Effie flinched. "Was that really necessary?" she asked.

"Yes." Katniss said.

Effie huffed. Katniss strode past her and began down the staircase. Her eyes ran over the crowd below, searching for the person with the most extravagant outfit.

"Over there," Peeta said as he joined her. He gestured to a couple who stood in the middle of the room, they were surrounded by people, yet the couple were unmistakably standing alone. Separate from the rest for some reason Katniss did not know.

Katniss nodded and together they made their way down towards the couple.

"Hi," Katniss said.

The couple turned around to look at her.

"That's a very nice dress you are wearing, the green really brings out your eyes," Peeta said.

"Thank you," the woman said.

The man squinted, then his eyes widened. "I told you," he said smirking at his companion.

"You did," she said. "What are you two doing here? I would think that you have more pressing matters to attend to?"

"No, someone else is doing it," Katniss said.

"How lovely of them," the woman said and smiled. "My name is Laurel Pyrmont, and this is Crucis."

"Nice to meet you," Peeta said.

"I bet," Crucis said. His eyes were that of a snake.

"So, what do you want from us?" Laurel asked.

"We just wanted to say hello," Peeta said.

"Don't lie," Laurel said. She ran a flawless white hand through her long blonde hair. "There are hundreds of people here, why did you come to us?"

Peeta hesitated. "Did someone say anything?" Laurel asked.

"No," Katniss said hastily.

"That was what I was afraid of," Laurel said and clicked her tongue.

Katniss glanced at Peeta; he furrowed his brow. "I don't think I understand," Peeta said with an uncertain smile.

"I bet you don't," Crucis said. His thin white lips barely moved as he spoke. "We are not here to bet or sponsor. I am here to be closer to it all." He shrugged. "Maybe even go and see a corpse."

"Do you want to go now? To see the body, we should go before it starts to rot." Crucis asked Laurel.

"Yes," Laurel said and leaned forwards. "You are always so much nicer when you're dead." She smirked.

"Us?" Katniss asked.

Laurel's smirk widened. She put one hand on Katniss left shoulder and the other on Peeta's right shoulder and stopped between them. "You know, I wanted you both to die. You are not victor material," she whispered.

Katniss eyes widened, then narrowed and she turned towards Laurel. "I'm always happy to disappoint."

"No doubt," Crucis said. He laughed.

Katniss stared at their backs until they had disappeared from view.

"I have to go," she said. There were too many people here, she had trouble breathing.

"What? You can't," Peeta said.

"You don't need me here." He had to understand, she could not stay any longer. She had to go.

"That's not true."

"It is."

"You're abandoning her," he said.

"Don't you dare! I would do anything to help her survive," she almost shouted. People around them were starting to notice and gave them a wide berth.

"You are," he said." You are abandoning me," he added softly.

"I need to be alone." She said weakly.

"I need you here."

"I can't." She walked away.

"Wait," he said.

She halted, her back to him. She hesitated, but walked on. This was the right thing to do.

He shouted after her, but she was already too far gone to hear the words.

She walked back to room twelve, keeping her head down and not looking anyone in the eye. Once she reached the corridor, it seemed gloomy and colourless.

"Back so soon?" Haymitch asked snidely as she entered the room.

Katniss sneered at him. She did not walk over to the sofa, but instead stood with her back against the door. Madge was still in the labyrinth. She walked slowly, carefully, towards what Katniss assumed was an exit.

"She is doing well," Katniss said.

"For now," Haymitch said.

"How do you do it? For twenty five years…"

He sighed. "I didn't, most of them walked to their death without my help."

"I can't do that," Katniss said. Her eyes brimmed with tears.

"I know."

"Then how?"

"Peeta. He will help you through it," he said. Katniss cringed.

Haymitch laughed. "Go. You will know what to do."

She left the room, the door closed softly behind her. He was wrong, she did not know what to do.

When she returned to the party she saw Peeta and Effie standing together, they were surrounded by people. Katniss made her way over, and did not stop until she was standing directly in front of Peeta.

His eyes widened as he saw her, but instead of smiling to her he turned away and smiled at someone else instead.

Katniss stared at Peeta. His face was manlier than she remembered it; his ashy blond hair framed it perfectly. But his eyes were not focused on her; he was looking away, at someone else. She grabbed his face and turned it towards her. His cheeks were soft, there was no trace of stubble. His blue eyes finally met her grey.

She kissed him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

"Wake up." Someone touched her shoulder. Katniss pushed the offending hand away and turned her head the opposite direction.

"Go away…" she mumbled.

"I can't do that. 'Cause you know, I'm only here for a little while." It was not Peeta's voice, nor Effie's. Katniss rolled away and landed in a heap on the floor. She got to her feet hurriedly and stared at the person. Her grey eyes flew wide open and her breathing became fast and shallow. A young girl sat on the bedside, her short legs dangling in the air.

"Who are you?" Katniss asked loudly.

"You know the answer," the girl said.

Katniss blinked, and then she squinted. It was a small girl with dark black hair; she was turned away, making it hard to see her face. Then the girl turned and stared straight at Katniss.

Katniss's mouth fell open. "Don't do this to me… What did they do to you?!" Katniss asked, the words rolled off her tongue at a blistering speed. "You died…"

The girl's lips tugged upwards and Katniss noticed her eyes. They were solid black.

"Rue…?" Katniss asked hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"I'm dreaming aren't I?" Katniss's eyes scanned the room, she was in her bed at the Training Centre. Peeta was nowhere to be seen; she ransacked her brain. What had happened last night? After the kiss. She touched her lips gently.

"You are," Rue said.

"Why are you here? Why now?"

"I don't know," Rue said happily. Katniss got back into the bed and put the blanket over her legs. Rue stood up on the bed, and walked over to Katniss. Katniss was wary and kept her eyes fixed on Rue's small form as she approached. She moved her arms slightly, prepared to fight.

Rue smiled at her, the startling black eyes seemed almost kind on her face. Then Rue was right in front of her; Rue turned around and sat back, straight into her lap. Katniss opened her arms in surprise; Rue leaned back into her chest. Katniss hesitated, her arms tensed.

Then finally, she relaxed and put her arms around the smaller girl.

This was all so confusing, but right now it was comforting; Katniss's chest warmed. Rue had not changed at all, she was exactly the same size as Katniss remembered; Katniss closed her eyes.

They sat in silence.

Rue was cold, Katniss scolded herself for not realising sooner.

"Do you want to come under with me?" Katniss asked. She pulled at the blanket.

No response; Katniss shook Rue. "Wake up." Katniss was just about to shake Rue again when something sharp pressed against her stomach. She winced and pushed Rue gently away from her, her eyes travelled downwards to the source of the pain.

It was the sharp end of a spear, exiting from a wound on Rue's back.

Suddenly the spear head shot towards her, Katniss jumped back just in time to avoid it. She landed on the floor a few feet away from the bed. Her hands shook as she brought them up to defend herself, but Rue had not moved and sat facing away from Katniss.

"Rue?" Katniss asked hesitantly.

Silence.

Then Rue moved, with slow quivering movements she turned towards Katniss, her eyes watery with tears, real, translucent tears.

"I wanted you to feel it; what I felt." Rue pulled on the spear running through her stomach, her face contracted in pain. "It hurts so much—make it stop Katniss, make it stop!" Rue screamed.

"You should have saved her," Peeta said. He appeared behind Rue and placed his right hand on her shoulder.

"No…I tried!" Katniss shouted.

"Her blood is on your hands." Gale appeared on Rue's other side.

Katniss's body was heavy, her breath came out in painful gasps.

Prim appeared, dressed in the same light blue dress she wore for the reaping. She stared at Katniss with the same black eyes as Rue.

Katniss reached for her with blood covered hands, but Prim was too far away and Katniss could not move.

A red dot appeared on the right side of Prim's stomach, it started to grow and soon was comparable to a small apple. Prim glanced down at it and touched it with her left hand, her body contracted in pain. She looked up towards Katniss, her eyes wide.

"You will be the end of us all." Peeta stood by Katniss's side now, his breath hot against her cheek.

"Katniss, Katniss," he said in a sing-song voice. "The girl on fire." He spat.

"Don't…" Katniss said weakly.

"Katniss, Katniss," he said again. "Where are you Katniss? We are dying here, won't you hurry up?"

Prim keeled over in pain, a small puddle of blood had formed at her feet.

"Stop…" Katniss said.

"Katniss, Katniss." She closed her eyes.

"Wake up." She opened them again.

Prim was gone; in her place was Paylor. Katniss glanced to the left, someone was holding her hand. Peeta, it was he that had spoken; he held her left hand in both of his. His brow furrowed and he gazed down on her with concern.

"Are you okay?" he asked out of the corner of his mouth, it was nearly inaudible.

She nodded and sat up straighter, they were still in room twelve; she must have fallen asleep at some time during the night.

Katniss blinked away her tears and clenched her jaw. This happened often, she did not remember most of the nightmares, but the wet spot on her pillow and her clammy skin told its story.

"What are you doing here?" Katniss asked.

"I just wanted to check up on you two," Paylor said.

"Liar." Katniss spat. Her heart still raced from her nightmare.

Paylor smirked. "I must admit that your fitness was not the only thing on my mind." She glanced at Haymitch, he stood by the door with his hands crossed; a scowl on his face.

"Get on with it," he said gruffly.

"I need you two to do something for me," she said. "It's a task that only you can do."

"Here?" Katniss asked and gestured offhandedly around the room.

Paylor laughed. "I don't have much power, but being a mayor does come with some benefits. Don't worry, we can speak freely."

There was a brief pause as this information sunk in.

"So, what is it?" Peeta asked.

"As you know, things are about to change." She halted. "But, it's happening too slowly. We need someone to—"She licked her lips. "—to push it over the edge, so to speak." She leaned forward and her eyes got a manic look to them. "That's where you two come in."

Katniss glanced at Peeta, she held her breath in preparation for what came next.

"We need you to do prove yourself," Paylor said.

"What? Why?" Peeta asked. He let go of her hand and crossed his arms over his chest.

"There are still doubts in the districts about what side you are on; you seem awfully friendly with the Capitol these days."

"Ungrateful—"

"Don't," Haymitch interrupted Katniss.

"How?" Peeta asked, resigned.

"This is where it gets a little tricky…" Paylor said. "I… we need you to go on television."

"What?" Katniss blurted out.

"We need you to go on television and speak to the districts, give them courage to do what's necessary."

Katniss mouth hung open, she looked at Paylor disbelieving. "You want us to do that now?" she asked. Her brow creased as she considered the implications.

"Yes," Paylor said.

"But, what about the Games?" Peeta asked.

Paylor waved her hand. "It's only one year, one tribute. This is the time to act."

"We can't," Katniss said.

Peeta nodded alongside her. "If we do this, then what would happen to Madge? Or to our family back home?"

Or to us, Katniss added silently to herself.

"We will take care of them, just leave it to us; keep your concentration on the matter on hand."

Katniss swallowed. This day was proving to be even worse than the previous.

"We will take care of them. We will get them out even before it starts," Haymitch said. He moved towards them and did not stop until he stood shoulder to shoulder with Paylor.

"Madge?" Katniss asked simply.

He hesitated. "There's nothing to be done about that, it's already too late."

"Bullshit," Katniss said.

"Now, be reasonable-" Paylor said.

"It will have to wait. Until the Games are over," Peeta said. There was an edge to his voice.

"No," Paylor said. "The Capitol is busy now, we have to act while they are distracted."

"The celebrations, after the Hunger Games," Katniss said. Six eyes turned to stare at her. "That's when we hit them."

Paylor narrowed her eyes. "Which would give us a good chance to launch our second attack."

"Could you leave? We-" Katniss motioned between herself and Peeta. "-are the only mentors responsible for Madge. She has just started moving and I need to concentrate." She smiled sweetly.

Paylor stared at her for a long time and then she shrugged. With a pointed look at Peeta she said, "I think you will do what's necessary. Come find me when you're ready." She left.

Katniss kept her eyes on her until the door closed shut.

She glowered at Haymitch and opened her mouth, intent on telling him exactly how she felt about this.

"Shut up," he said. "No matter what you think, this is more important than one year of the Hunger Games."

"I won't leave Madge," she said.

He sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"Look!" Peeta said. Katniss turned back towards the screen. Madge had reached the end of the Labyrinth and now stood with a small smile on her face; gazing out at the forest surrounding her. She wore a forest green jacket and dark grey pants.

Katniss grabbed the controller and brought up the map. "She's here." She pointed to the red dot. "That means…"

"She's safe for now, there's no one within a square mile," Peeta said.

She turned the camera back to look at Madge; the night on the floor of the labyrinth had done work on her clothes. They were covered in dirt.

Madge took off to the east, towards the sun which had already managed to climb over the horizon.

The arena was smaller than the one used in the Seventy-forth Games; the Gamemakers wanted the tributes to meet each other often. However, the arena was still large enough for people to get lost looking for water.

Madge walked for hours, towards the sun, but she did not find any water. She picked up a small stick on the way and kept it in front of her body; it was her only weapon.

For the past hour the forest had grown denser; she took to using the stick to push low growing branches out of her way.

Katniss had turned off the commentary a few hours in; Claudius voice grated on her nerves.

Eventually Madge climbed a tree and settled in for the night; she did not climb very far up as she did not have any rope to link her to the tree. She found a suitable branch a few feet above ground; it was wide enough for her to move around on it. She sat and waited, Katniss did the same where she sat on the couch beside Peeta. There were still eleven tributes alive; Katniss waited for Madge to come to the same conclusion.

Madge lay down on the branch and hugged herself, to keep what little warmth she had contained. After a very short time she started to shake. Katniss noted that the trees surrounding her did the same; the wind was blowing towards the west.

Neither Katniss nor Madge got much sleep that night, but they both survived and at dawn the next day they were ready for it. Madge needed to find water today; her body was dehydrated, her movements sluggish. Madge continued towards the east.

"She's not going to find it," Katniss said and bit her left thumb nail off cleanly.

Katniss had started to bite her nails again, even though she had repeatedly been told to stop. By both family and stylists, but right now she did not care; she needed to do it. She wore long thin nails that the stylists glued on her; they did not give much resistance and frankly tasted awful. She spat them out after each bite.

Peeta frowned. "She can… She just has to go a bit to the north. She is nearing the end of the map; she will be forced to choose either south or north."

So they waited; half the day passed and the sun was glowing brightly down at Madge.

She trudged through the woods; the forest density had decreased significantly the last mile. Soon she would be out of it completely; she had an extra spring in her step—she knew it too. Madge reached the end of the forest and stopped. She had found the ocean; a beautiful sand beach stretched as far as the eye could see. Madge fell to her knees and picked up a handful of sand; it trickled through her fingers.

Her body shook and she fell face first into the sand.

"Get up, get up!" Katniss said. Peeta buried one hand in his hair and leaned forwards.

Haymitch sat on the other couch and leaned backwards and with a drink in his hand. He had barely spoken since yesterday's incident and kept exiting and entering the room. Effie was absent, she spent most of her day socialising with the Capitol's elite. What exactly she did was anyone's guess; Katniss had her doubts on its worth.

Ten long minutes passed until Madge gave any sign of moving, but eventually she moved her arm, then her leg. She got back on her feet and stumbled over to the ocean. She stopped right before it and put one hand into it. Her face relaxed and she sat on the sand; she twisted off her shoes and threw them behind her. Her bare feet rested over the water for a second; she slowly dipped them in. A sound of relief escaped her lips and she closed her eyes; she lay back on the sand.

A huge wave materialized out in the sea and ran over her roughly. She got to her feet swiftly and spat out saltwater. Her clothes were soaked.

Katniss turned on the commentary sound. Laughter. She muted them and threw the controller away. It hit the end of the sofa and fell down on the pillow unharmed.

Haymitch shrugged. "It got her to her feet."

It did. Madge twisted off her wet clothes and continued on in her underwear. She walked north.

She shivered and hugged herself; the stick lay forgotten in the sand behind her. It would get dark soon and she needed to set up camp.

After a few miles of walking she stopped; she had moved back into the forest to give herself some shelter from the wind. She put the clothes on the ground beside her and they fell into a wet heap. She picked them up and with shaking hands she hung them on a low growing branch.

Her teeth chattered audibly and she rubbed her hands together.

Katniss grimaced. "She has to make a fire." She was reminded of the girl who did it during her own Games, she had died as a result. Katniss glanced at the map; the nearest enemy was over five miles away and the trees were tall and the vegetation was dense. It was possible that no one would notice the smoke.

Madge's lips were turning blue. There was no other option, she had to chance it.

Madge brought a bunch of small twigs together and made a small heap. She placed two twigs against each other and rubbed them together roughly. She had mastered this skill at the training centre and a small campfire was soon aflame.

She lay down around the campfire; her back exposed to the darkness. Madge closed her eyes and her breathing slowed as she fell asleep.

Katniss had her head in her hands. "She won't survive like this."

"I know…" Peeta said.

There was a long uncomfortable silence.

"I'll take first watch," Katniss said.

"Then I'll take second. Don't let me sleep too long," Peeta said.

"No point," Haymitch said.

"Why not?" Katniss asked.

"The Gamemakers can dismiss sponsor's gifts if they believe it will ruin the show. Put the volume on high, you will wake up if anything happens."

"I'll take first watch," she said. She crossed her arms, and sat back into the corner of the sofa, her left arm leaning on the armrest.

Peeta stood up and collected a pillow and two blankets. He gave one to her and wrapped himself in the other.

"Thank you."

"No problem," he said.

The hours trickled by; she often glanced over at Peeta, she liked looking at him while he slept. He would be angry if she waited any longer, but he needed more sleep than her and she needed him at his best. His blond hair fell over his forehead; she moved over to him and brushed it away from his eyes.

"Hey," she whispered.

Blond eyelashes move out of the way and startling blue eyes stared up at her. "Hey," he mumbled. "What time is it?"

"Just after two."

"I slept for too long, you should have woken me earlier."

She smiled softly. "Good night." She snatched the pillow from under his head and returned to her side of the sofa. An indignant huff followed after her.

* * *

Katniss woke up to the sound of a cannon shot, then another.

Her eyes shot open and she sat up with one fluid motion.

"Don't worry," Peeta said. "Madge is fine, she just woke up."

Katniss breathed out in relief. She had slept well; her eyes were refreshed and her head was clear.

"Who was it?" she asked.

"The girl from four and the boy from six," Peeta said. "There was a fire…" He winced.

Katniss nodded. The Games had been too boring; the Gamemakers had to do something.

Madge sat up stiffly. She stared at the extinguished fire, her eyes unfocused.

"We need to send water," Peeta said. "She's having trouble keeping her eyes up."

Madge looked up towards the sky, directly into one of the many cameras. The skin on her forehead was red, raw from lying face down in the harsh landscape. She raised her hands hesitantly and brought them together creating a cup. Her lower lip trembled as she lifted her hands to the sky. She was nearing her end.

Katniss shivered. "The map," she said. It appeared on another part of the screen.

"She's so close," she muttered.

"Do we have enough?" Haymitch asked.

"Yes, we won't have much left, but we have enough," Peeta said.

"We have to wait," Katniss said. She glanced at Haymitch; he nodded.

"Why?" Peeta asked.

"This same thing happened to me last year, she will realize that she's close."

"How?"

"Because we're not sending anything to her."

"There are a lot of tributes who don't receive anything from their sponsors," Peeta said.

"Yes," Katniss agreed. "But they don't have us as sponsors. She will know."

Peeta sent a look towards Haymitch. Katniss winced.

Madge allowed her hands to fall and sat stationary. Katniss chewed on a fake nail; she only had two left.

Madge got to her feet and wobbled her first few steps; she got dressed. She started to walk; hitting branches and kicking roots. There were only a few hundred feet separating her and the stream, but the trip there took over two hours.

Madge almost fell in, she crawled the last few feet and dropped her entire head in it. She drank a few mouthfuls; then sat back to wait. Smart girl; she needed to give her stomach time to readjust.

The cannon went off; another tribute had fallen. Katniss switched through the channels until she found the correct one; she turned on the commentary.

"She gets another one. And what a beauty that was. Straight through the neck," Claudius said. "She makes it look so effortless."

"That was remarkably similar to what you used to do…" Gloss said and stared at Enobaria.

She smirked at him. "What can I say? You should learn from the best." She bared her teeth and grinned widely.

Claudius laughed, his voice boomed from the speakers.

Katniss switched back to Madge's camera. Madge sat with her back against a trunk; her eyes focused. She stood up and scanned her surroundings; she walked up to a pile of sticks and picked up a long thin one. She swung it a few times then placed it on the ground; she sat.

Her butt had barely touched the ground before she was moving again. Loud noises from the south, twigs breaking, whatever was making the noise was approaching Madge fast. Katniss squatted on the sofa and started gnawing on the second to last nail. Madge picked up her stick and hid behind the trunk.

Any second now.

A girl sprang into the clearing.

"Theta?" Madge called out. Katniss bit through the nail, her teeth gnashed together.

"Madge?" Theta halted. "You can't be here, run!" She shouted and ran. More sounds from the woods; she was being followed- Madge hesitated only for a split second, and then took off after her.

Madge was not a fast runner but the vegetation was dense and she was agile, so she had soon caught up with the other girl.

Katniss swore, how had she missed them? She grabbed the controller and started going through the channels; always going back to Madge's channel between each change.

"What's behind us?" Madge asked.

"Who!" Theta shouted. "It's two boys, from district eight and nine."

Madge glanced behind her.

"Don't even think about stopping to fight. They have knives. You would die," Theta said. "On second thought—"

She never finished that sentence, as she had to throw herself to the ground to avoid a knife that came flying from the side. Theta swore loudly.

"This way!" she said and ran in the opposite direction.

Katniss found the right camera angle. "Here we go," she said.

It was showing one boy, standing stock still behind a trunk. Katniss narrowed her eyes; she had no way of knowing where he was in comparison to Madge. The map was not that detailed; the four dots were so intertwined that it was hard to pick them apart.

Katniss bit her lip; the two girls ran on. She glanced at the boy, he started to move again and she recognized the area. He was behind the girls now, far enough away for them to be out of immediate danger.

Katniss frowned; now where was the second boy?

She switched through the other channels on the tablet table, the main screen stayed with Madge.

"Do you have any weapons?" Madge asked, she breathed heavily.

"I have a rope and a dull knife. That's it," Theta said. She was holding up far better than Madge and barely looked winded. She continued, "They followed me since yesterday. I don't know how but they keep finding me."

Katniss rolled her eyes, Theta moved with the elegance of a large sheep, certainly not spotlessly. Any decent hunter could track her for days. Katniss bit down harder on her lip and drew blood. Now they also had Madge's trace.

"That stupid girl," Katniss muttered.

The commentary was turned back on, and Katniss glanced down at her hands. The controller had disappeared; how had that happened? She looked towards Peeta, his eyes fixed on the screen and in his hand the controller. He was getting better at this.

"They are getting closer," Gloss said.

"Yes," Claudius said. "Frankly, I'm surprised that she has managed to avoid them for this long. And now she has managed to find a partner, from district…uhm…"

"Twelve," Gloss said. "Madge Undersee…I'm afraid I don't really see how that will help her. Their combined training score is only eight."

Effie stormed into the room. "How is she?" she asked breathlessly.

"She is being followed and has no weapons. What do you think?" Katniss asked sharply.

Effie ignored her and sat down on the other sofa.

Madge and Theta continued to run and managed to put over half a mile between them and their followers.

"Let's stop," Madge said and tugged on Theta's shirt.

Theta looked unconvinced but followed after Madge over to a large oak tree.

"We don't have much time. Give me the rope," Madge said.

Theta furrowed her brow and hesitated. Madge reached out impatiently. "Come on." She spun around, her eyes sharp and watching for movements. "They might arrive at any second; hurry up!"

Theta fumbled with her backpack but found the rope; she gave it to Madge, she turned it around in her hands.

"This can work. Use the knife; cut here and here," Madge said.

Katniss smiled, Madge was doing it perfectly.

"We can only get one of them," Madge said. She found a stubby stick and attached one end of the rope to that. Her eyes moved furiously, she was looking for something. Then they stopped and focused, she had found it.

Madge walked a short distance over to a low-hanging tree.

She took the other end of the rope and made a loop.

"You will only have one shot at this, make it count. You have to end it," Madge said.

Theta stared at her with wide eyes. Katniss could not blame her; she had probably never met this version of Madge.

Madge lay the loop down on the ground, hiding it under small shrub. Berries grew all over; it hid the actual ground from plain view. She walked over to the tree, holding the other end of the rope and making sure to hide the middle part of the rope along the way.

"This will never work," Theta said. "What do we do if they stay together? Or step over it?"

"Then we're dead," Madge said. Her voice frosty and her face blank.

"What are they trying to do?" Effie whispered. She had a pillow on her lap and was holding onto it for dear life.

"They're making a trap," Katniss said.

"Will it work?" Effie asked.

"It will have to."

The next few minutes were painful for Katniss; she tried to keep track of the two boys but they never appeared together and she was never exactly sure where they were.

"They're getting closer…" Peeta said. He had his right arm over the armrest and clenched and unclenched his hand at random intervals.

Katniss grabbed his other hand and squeezed it hard.

Effie took the controller and pressed some buttons; then there were four screens covering the entire wall. Madge and Theta was in the middle surrounded by the two boys.

"How did you…?" Katniss asked.

"This part is my speciality," Effie said. Katniss gave her a look of disbelief.

"They are so close to each other, my heart can't handle this—will it work? What do you think Gloss?" Claudius asked.

"It's a good plan—"

Madge jumped.

"What—"

The boy at the left flew into the air, he dangled from one foot. One hand gripped a long thin knife.

They had all been fooled by the terrain; the boys were much closer than expected.

"Now!" Madge screamed. The force of her fall gave her enough strength to place the stick behind another tree; keeping the boy upside down.

Katniss tried to keep track of everything but so much was happening that she almost missed Theta. She came out from behind the boy; in his blind spot.

She stabbed him in the back, the knife barely breeched the skin. She withdrew the blade and stabbed again, this time it reached further and blood emerged from the wound, it trickled down his back.

"Aaargh!" The boy screamed; he dropped the knife. Effie brought her hands up to cover her ears.

"We have to go—"The other boy came rushing through the bushes. "Run!" Madge yelled. She picked up the dropped knife and started ran.

Theta put both hands on her knife, the blade was still stuck in the boy. It did not budge; she hesitated then she released her grasp of it and ran.

The other boy stopped before his companion; placing his feet with the utmost care. He had a long sword in his right hand and made sure to always hold it in front.

"Please—let me down." The hung boy pleaded.

The other boy glanced at him and smirked. He shook his head slowly and put one finger to his lips; he took off after the girls.

"Oooh! Did you see that? With no regard for his former companion, he continues on," Claudius said. "The tribute from district eight! Will he go all the way?" he shouted.

"There can only be one winner," Enobaria said.

Katniss clawed at the skin of her forearm with her one remaining fake nail; it left a red mark in its wake.

Once again Madge was on the run, but this time was different from the last. This time she had a weapon, this time, it was two against one. Still, the knife seemed so small when faced with the large sword the boy from district eight was carrying.

"Two against one, they can do it," Effie said.

"They really can," Peeta said.

"Shhh," Haymitch said.

Madge ran; she was a couple of feet in front of Theta.

She reached the end of the forest and ran straight out of it; her feet hit the ground and made a whacking sound. She glanced down—asphalt.

The map appeared over the now three screens.

"They have reached the city," Peeta said.

Katniss swallowed, what horror would be waiting for them there?

Effie furrowed her brow. "I have not seen anyone go there yet. What do we know about it?"

"Nothing…That's the problem," Haymitch said. He scratched his beard. "They are the first."

"Oh…"

Madge halted, there was very little cover to hide behind here. The green colour of the jacket could hide her well in the forest, but against the stark white buildings of the city? She stood out like a sore thumb. The buildings were very large squares, it would take too long to run around them. The boy from eight would be able to track them the entire way.

Madge ran on, up to the first door on the first building. She wrenched it open and hurried inside, Theta hot on her heels.

Madge glanced at the lock on the other side of the door; it was busted. They hurried on, up the stairs, then up the next set of stairs. She stopped as she reached the third floor.

"This is the place…" she said.

"What?" Theta asked.

"This is where we stop."

Theta turned her head franticly. "Here?" she asked, her eyes wide.

Madge scanned the hallway; there was a small open space around the stairway. The stairs were directly above each other and there were three doors on this level, one of which was open; the rest were locked.

Madge had a piece of rope, one of the pieces that Theta cut off, and she had the knife.

She put her head in her hands. "Think, think," she muttered.

Theta wobbled on her feet and she kept her eyes down the stairway. The boy from eight was nowhere to be seen.

Katniss glanced at the third screen; the boy had just entered the building and stood motionless on the first floor.

"I got it," Madge said. Katniss cringed; the boy had heard it too. He smirked and started up the stairs, taking slow, deliberate steps.

"We hide in here, then when he comes you distract him and I will get him from the side," she said excitedly.

Theta nodded and they both moved inside the open room. One floor below, the boy started on the final stairway.

Then Madge appeared in the hallway again; she tip toed over to the stairway leading up.

"What is she doing?" Peeta whispered.

Katniss furrowed her brow. "I don't know," she whispered back.

She peered at the screen with Theta; she had somehow fastened the rope horizontally across the door, to keep people out. But it was attached to a lamp and a chair; it would never hold for long.

The boy took another step and stood on the third floor. He walked up to the first door; it was locked.

He scowled. "Let me in, let me in. I won't hurt you," he sung. Enobaria and Claudius laughed. "What score did he get in training again?" Claudius asked.

"A nine," Gloss said, his voice unemotional. "For his brutal skill with a sword."

Neither Theta nor Madge answered. The boy walked on to the next door; the one Theta was hiding behind. He turned the handle and pushed the door moved inwards then recoiled back.

The boy smirked and stepped back a few feet, then ran towards the door and kicked it open with one swift kick. The chair fell over and the lamp flew three feet then landed with a loud crashing sound on the floor beside Theta.

Madge moved; she took small steps towards the boy. She had taken off her shoes and walked barefoot.

The boy laughed. He saw Theta in the far corner of the room. "That's one," he said and took one step into the room. "Now where is the second?" he asked in a sing-song voice.

Madge stood right behind him now, her hand shook as she raised the knife.

"I think, behind me!" The boy said and turned on his heels.

Madge froze, her hand partly raised.

Three people swore.

The boy grinned, his eyes wild. "What should I start with? The hand? The leg?" he asked. He moved his left hand to his lips pondering. "Then again, you did help me get rid of nine…"

Madge shivered, her grip on the knife was loose. She had lost her will.

He took a step towards her.

"Now!" Theta shouted.

The boy twisted around and lashed out with his sword; the lamp split in two. His eyes widened and his mouth opened and he turned back again, but it was already too late. The knife buried in his neck. He sputtered, spraying blood over the floor. "No…" he said.

Madge fell backwards and landed on her butt, she brought her knees to her chest and rubbed her hands franticly over her legs. She had not escaped unscratched, a long gash ran down her left leg.

The sound of a cannon filled the air; the boy from district eight was dead.

"Seven left, this is starting to get interesting," Claudius said, paying no respect to the fallen.

Katniss closed her eyes and fell back into the sofa. Her legs were heavy and she never wanted to open her eyes again, but she did and looked down at her right hand, it was white. She squeezed Peeta's hand gently and he let up some; the colour started to return. Even though it was sweaty and had started to itch, Katniss did not move her hand. Her relationship with Peeta was at a strange place, he had kissed her back but there was something off about it. Katniss cringed; he would want to speak about it.

Madge got to her feet and stumbled over to the corpse; with a shaking hand she drew out the knife. Theta picked up the rope and sword.

No words were spoken as they left the building. They walked to the centre of the town, Madge leaning on Theta, there was a small square shaped building at the middle. 'Town centre' was written with big white letters on the top.

The two girls glanced at each other, then they shrugged and went inside. The building consisted of one room, and it was almost completely empty, except for one wall.

There was a chest of drawers with dolls placed on top. Katniss counted them, seven. They had small shirts with numbers on them; from two to twelve.

Each had a small string tied around their neck. Madge walked closer and the camera zoomed in; from this distance Katniss could see that there were large spaces between certain dolls, and some numbers were left out.

The cannon went off.

'Snap!'

Madge recoiled. A male doll disappeared through the chest, a hatch had opened beneath his feet; the only thing visible was the string. Madge opened a drawer, then another, until all of them lay on the floor beside her. She crouched down, the camera went after her.

Dolls hung there, from the string around their neck. The camera zoomed in on one doll, the one that fell; number nine.

Up close the face was recognizable; Katniss tasted bile at the back of her throat. It was a doll replica of the tribute from District Nine.

Katniss looked closer at the other hung dolls, they were all replicas of fallen tributes.

"Then there were six. They have really outdone themselves this time," Claudius said just as a bell went off.

Madge raised her head, she had heard too.

"Ooooooh! It's time already?" Claudius said excitedly. The three commentators became visible on the screen.

Claudius cleared his throat. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Capitol," he said, his voice booming. The camera zoomed in on his face; his nose was different from last time, smaller. "For the first time ever, there will be a twist midway through the Games… And what a twist it is!" he said.

The camera changed and showed six children, three girls and three boys. They did not really look like children as even the smallest girl there dwarfed Katniss by her size.

"For the first time ever," Claudius repeated. "There will be contestants from the Capitol!" he shouted.

The camera zoomed in and it drifted from contestant to contestant; who in turn gave their best confident grin.

"Who will win? The battle between the Capitol and the Districts. Remember this is all thanks to President Snow and the new head Gamemaker Plutar—"

Effie muted it. "You have to go," she said and grimaced.

"What?" Katniss asked, she was already on her feet.

"It will be impossible to get sponsors. Who would want to sponsor a filthy District child when they could have the honour of sponsoring someone from the Capitol?" Haymitch said.

"No—that's…" Peeta said.

"Maybe if we went right away we might…" Katniss said.

"Yes, let's do that," Peeta agreed and together they ran out the door. She was faster than Peeta, so she reached the door to the hall a step ahead of him. She opened it and rushed through.

She stopped on the first step of the staircase. There was no one there, the entire hall was deserted.

"Wha—"

Applause. President Snow stood at the bottom of the staircase.

"Bravo, bravo. She's doing well in there," he said. He started up towards them, they met halfway.

Snow smiled at them. "Surprised?" he asked. "You shouldn't be, all the signs pointed here."

Katniss glared at him.

"It's so quiet here, I don't remember it ever being this quiet…" Snow mused.

"Where are they?" Katniss asked.

"Didn't they tell you? There is a new hall, built specifically for this event." He paused. "Only for the citizens of the Capitol I'm afraid, but I'm sure you will hear all about it."

"What do you want?" Peeta asked.

The smile disappeared from Snow's face. "I want peace…I wanted us to work together. But I don't think I want that anymore."

He turned around and started down the stairs.

He stopped and looked back over his shoulder. "Oh, and give my best to Mayor Paylor. Tell her that I'm—"He paused. "—watching."

He left; Katniss buried her face in her hands. Peeta put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go back up; we still have some money. We have to use it before it disappears.

Katniss's eyes widened. It was true; they did have some money from earlier sponsors. She jumped up the stairs, two at a time; they had to use it before even that disappeared.

**Author's note: **If you like it, please consider leaving a review.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

It was a question of time; his moment would come. He flexed his bow; he was ready.

* * *

They were only gone for five minutes, yet the room they returned to was not the same as the one they had left. The television was turned off; with the curtains closed and the lamps disconnected the screen had been the only light source in the room. Katniss reached out and touched the wall beside the door, searching for the light switch. She found it and bright white light burned her eyes, she squinted. Haymitch sat with his head bowed and both hands clutching his hair. One of the sofas was upside down, sofa cushions laying by the side; Effie was nowhere to be seen.

Katniss scowled. "Where did she go?"

Peeta turned the sofa upright but did not sit; he walked over and switched on the lamps. Katniss turned the ceiling lamp off again; it was too bright and the table lamps provided more than enough lighting.

"Doesn't matter really," she muttered. "You have to get up," she said to Haymitch.

Haymitch turned to her, greasy hair framed his face. Katniss had not noticed before, but the room had a different smell than the hallway. It smelled of sweat and old socks; it had been a while since either of them had showered.

Haymitch took a long drag from his drink.

"Stop that," Peeta said.

Katniss turned the wall screen back on. "We have to use the sponsor money before they remov—"

"Gone…"Haymitch said. "It's already gone, the sponsors pulled out."

Katniss sat down on the edge of the sofa, the same one that fifteen seconds ago had been upside down, she rubbed her eyes tiredly. The last glimmer of hope flickered out.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"I don't know…" Haymitch slurred.

"There is nothing we can do. It's entirely up to Madge now." Peeta sat down and leaned back in the sofa. The screen showed the six tributes from The Capitol, Claudius's voice informed them of their many accomplishments, often involving causing physical harm to others. Katniss scowled—his voice was like a dull headache; she could try to ignore it but it kept reminding her that it was there.

Katniss got up and paced the room. She ground her teeth; there had to be a way. She pushed over a lamp; it fell to the floor with a dull bump. "Turn off the volume," she snapped.

"I can't—it doesn't react to anything," Peeta said.

"They turned that off too," Haymitch said. "We are completely out of control." He shrugged. "What does it matter?"

Katniss took the controller from Peeta, she pointed it towards the wall and mashed the mute button. Nothing happened, so she mashed harder. She threw the controller at the wall; it hit Claudius's face, right at the tip of his nose. The controller broke in two and fell to the floor; a battery fell out and rolled away.

"What about Effie? She should be able to get in," Katniss said. Then added, "To the other place."

Haymitch looked at her funnily. "I know; I told you."

"No, you didn't. I asked, but you ignored me," Katniss said, heatedly.

"I did?" Haymitch furrowed his brow.

"You did," Peeta confirmed.

"Huh… Well, she already left."

Finally Claudius stopped speaking and there was blessed silence. Then music was playing, a slow melody with a lot of drums. It lasted for over a minute before Claudius's grinning face came back on screen.

"Welcome back to The Hunger Games! There has been a last minute rule change, to reward the bravery of the Capitol tributes, President Snow has decided to reintroduce last year's rule. Do you remember what it is?" He smiled. "Let me remind you, if the tributes alive are all from the same area, they will all walk away as victors!" Cheers from an imaginary crowd.

Katniss buried her head in her hands.

"In under a minute from now, the six tributes from the Capitol will enter the arena; who knows what will happen then? I sure don't. There is nothing left for me to say except..." He took a deep breath. "May the odds be ever in your favour."

The screen was once more showing the arena; in the darkness of the labyrinth six figures were visible. There was no countdown this time, instead a bell rung and the figures moved. Katniss sat down on the sofa end, she put her feet up onto the cushions. The six split into two groups and went in opposite directions; no words were exchanged between the tributes.

Katniss swore. "They have been watching all along. They already know where everyone is." Madge, had she moved already? Katniss eyed the remote; a pang of regret shot through her. Maybe it would have worked now. She tapped the touch table and waited but nothing happened; probably not then.

Katniss sank back into the sofa and was now half-sitting half-laying; she closed her eyes and used her ears to follow the action.

"What do you think happens now? How much does this change the dynamic of the Hunger Games?" Claudius asked.

"I still hold Wren as the favourite," Enobaria said, frostily.

Claudius huffed. "Don't be foolish; there is no way this is going to the Districts," Claudius said. "What do you think Gloss?"

"Why did you wait until now to unveil this? Would it not have been better to start off this way?" Gloss asked.

"This is more fun isn't it?" Claudius asked. "I think so," he answered his own question.

_Hope_, Katniss thought. They allowed them to hope, to dream, then they crushed it.

"Let's travel to our only duo of this year's Games. From Districts Eleven and Twelve, Madge and Theta. I wonder how they're doing," Claudius said.

Katniss opened her eyes and saw Madge. She had a walking stick in hand and walked gingerly. She had bound a shirt around her upper leg, but the blood was already seeping through.

Katniss glanced at Peeta; he massaged his leg; his artificial leg. Did it hurt him to walk? She had never asked, but now she was curious.

Peeta looked at her; then followed her eyes to his leg. He stopped rubbing and moved the hand away.

"Does it hurt?" Katniss asked. "Walking with it I mean."

Peeta shrugged. "I've gotten used to it."

She really wanted to see it; through all the nights they spent together she had never seen it. She shook her head, ridding it from such thoughts. This was not the time or place.

She turned back to Madge. They walked slowly, through the city, in the direction of the labyrinth. Theta carried the sword in her left hand; it had been cleaned and the blade shone clearly in the sunlight.

"Now, let's go to Cal, he has—"Claudius was cut off.

The screen still showed Madge and Theta. Katniss furrowed her brow, then her eyes widened. The commentators had moved on, but they had been allowed to stay behind to watch over their own. _Thank you,_ she thought, for allowing them to follow Madge.

It was eerily quiet; the only sound came from two pairs of shoes hitting hard against the asphalt. One shoe made a softer sound than the rest. Madge's left foot only touched the ground briefly before it left again.

Madge and Theta walked for an hour before they stopped for a break. They had left the city behind them and moved back into the woods; Theta climbed up a tree to get a better look around. There was no smoke, nor any disturbed animals, they seemed to be safe for now.

Katniss glanced at the door. "She's not coming back is she?" she asked. Peeta shifted on the sofa beside her.

"Not unless she finds something we can use," Haymitch said. He sighed. "She is smarter than you give her credit for; she's our only hope now and she knows that. Sit and wait."

Katniss stood. "I wish we had a map," she said and glanced at the door again.

"Yeah…" Peeta said. "That would make it much easier to find the new headquarters."

Katniss's eyes widened. "What?" she asked, caught off guard. Peeta gave her a flat stare; Katniss swallowed thickly. "I can't just sit here!" she exclaimed.

"I agree," Peeta said and stood. Katniss furrowed her brow and stared at him, and then she smiled.

"Let's go find it," she said and opened the door; Peeta was right behind her.

Haymitch laughed. "It's about time," he called after them; Peeta closed the door.

Katniss stopped. "So…where are we going?" she asked, sheepishly.

"No idea," Peeta said.

"Snow said that it was built especially for this event, so it's a new building."

"Yes."

"Which means…"

Katniss played with her braid as she tried to figure it out.

"Why don't we ask someone?" Peeta asked.

"Yes, that might work."

They walked through the other doors. The area outside of the building, like the hall inside, was desolate. Not a car on the street, nor any pedestrians on the pavement. Katniss wanted to scream, but refrained, it might scare away possible targets.

They walked down the large, wide stairway, and reached the street below.

"Left or right?" Peeta asked.

"Left is towards the President's mansion, but the training centre is to the right…" Katniss shrugged. "Let's go left."

They walked past grocery stores and shopping malls, hair salons and bakeries; but most of all they walked past apartments. There were no houses in the Capitol except the mansion that Snow lived in; everyone else lived in huge apartment buildings.

They were alone; she cringed. Peeta would without a doubt use this to bring up the kiss. She glanced over to him. He walked with his eyes fixed on the road before him, he would occasionally look around for people, but other than that his eyes were looking straight ahead.

Katniss licked her lips. What should she tell him? She spoke to Haymitch and then something he said had prompted her to—no, that wouldn't work. Peeta would never forgive her. Why had she kissed him? She ransacked her brain for answers, but she came up blank.

_Stop thinking about it, Madge is in danger. Stop._

Five minutes passed and Peeta had yet to bring it up. She threw more and more frequent glances in his direction. She was starting to get worried; was he sick?

"Katniss," Peeta said.

_Here we go._

"Someone is over there. Should we go?" Peeta pointed.

Katniss blinked, but followed his finger; there was indeed a man there.

"Finally," she said. She walked briskly ahead of Peeta over to the man, he spotted their approach and stopped to wave.

"Hey," the man said. He wore a dress, blue, covered in gold stars; it reached his knees.

"Hello," she said.

"You like it?" the man asked, he twirled.

"Yes, the colour really brings out your eyes," she said, stealing Peeta's line.

The man grinned at them. "I knew it, people keep telling me that I should change, that dresses are only for women, but they're wrong. Tomorrow I will be the most famous stylist in The Capitol. Maybe I will even get a district. "

Katniss shuddered.

"Hopefully," she said.

"Do you know where the Hunger Games headquarters is?" Peeta asked.

"Of course, it's right over there." The man pointed behind them.

"I mean the new one," Peeta said.

"Ahhh." The man narrowed his eyes. "I got the message hand delivered; how come you don't know?"

Peeta looked down. "Well you see…" He hesitated. "I'm not that good with directions, and she—"He pointed towards Katniss. "—was at the hairstylists for the entire day, so she wasn't there for it." He grinned sheepishly.

The man looked at Peeta, then at her, then back at Peeta. "Ahhh," he said again. "I see… Well, don't worry, it's over there. Follow me."

They did and he led them down the street; then to the left and after another hundred feet he stopped in front of a giant glass building.

There was a huge group of people gathered inside it.

"Thank you," she said.

"We're not there yet," he said.

Katniss frowned, but followed after him as he walked around the building. He led them to a small green door, at the back. The only thing that was not glass.

"You would never be allowed in the front," the man said suddenly. Katniss halted.

"I recognized you, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark," he said and opened the door.

Katniss hesitated. "But, how will this work? It's glass; they will see us instantly." Katniss stared at the Peacekeepers guarding the outer doors; one of them seemed to stare directly at her.

The man shook his head. "Only for the people on the outside. It's allowing the less fortunate the opportunity to gaze at their superiors." He stopped at the final door. "Good luck in there; I'm rooting for you." He walked inside.

"That was…" Katniss said.

"Yeah."

"I like him; we should ask if he can design something for you."

"Please don't."

Her smile only lasted for a moment.

"Do you see Effie anywhere?" she asked.

"No."

"Time to find some sponsors."

"I'm ready."

Katniss opened the door and entered an entirely different building. The walls were decorated in red and gold; countless screens were fit in between the decorations. On one of them Madge and Theta walked on a narrow path, surrounded by trees. Two enormous numbers were plastered on one of the walls. Five and Six, separated by a hyphen. Over them, in silver letters it said: Districts versus the Capitol.

"We still have some time," Peeta said and motioned to the map. The first group of Capitol tributes were still some distance away from Madge.

A woman walked over to Katniss. "Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark? You shouldn't be here," she said and looked around the area.

"But we are," Katniss said.

"You are," the woman repeated and leaned in. "That's so rebellious of you," she said, excitedly.

"That's us," Peeta said.

"I'm Ashleen Lowenek."

"Pleasure," Peeta said.

They walked to the middle of the room, less chance of getting spotted.

The woman followed after them, giving her opinion on the various design of the outfits they passed.

Ashleen sniffed the air and grimaced. "What's that smell?"

Katniss froze.

"Some people don't know what a shower is." Peeta sighed and shook his head.

The woman pursed her lips. "So rude, to come in here smelling like animals!" She raised her head and glared at the surrounding people, revealing nostrils devoid of hair. Katniss stared. Peeta elbowed her in the side, she winced and sent him a glare. He rolled his eyes; the woman smiled at them.

"Come on." Someone tugged on Katniss's arm. It was Effie, she waved at them to follow.

"Did you get anything?" Katniss asked.

"I did," Effie said. She sniffed the air. "You two smell awful," she said. She led them over to the door they had entered through.

"Go through here."

"We can't leave yet, we just arrived," Katniss said.

"You have to, it's not safe for you here," Effie said, hastily. "I got medicine for Madge, now go!" She pushed them out the door at the same time as two Peacekeepers started moving in their direction. "And take a shower," she shouted after them.

The journey back to the observation room was uneventful and spent in silence.

"Hey," Peeta said as they entered room twelve.

Haymitch grunted.

"Effie managed to find some sponsors—"

"I know, Madge already received the package; she is applying it now."

Katniss collapsed on the sofa; the screen showed Madge sitting with Theta crouched on the side. Theta had one hand around a small plastic box; the other applied a sticky yellow substance. Like magic the substance worked its wonders and the wound healed.

Theta's eyes widened as she gazed down at the leg. "It's gone," she said.

Madge felt the spot, the skin was unblemished; no sign of the wound.

"Amazing…" she said.

Theta stood; she paced back and forth. "I bet they're on their way here right now."

"Yeah, we have to keep moving."

Theta swore. "What for? So hopefully they will kill someone else first? They already killed Gaius, we are next Madge; I know it."

_Five-Six_. So he had been the one.

Theta continued, "You heard them, it's the Capitol versus the Districts now. There is no hope."

"We just have to find the others, if we can make an alliance, then—"

"Hah! How do you plan on finding them? I don't know if you noticed but this place is huge."

"We get lucky," Madge said, icily.

"Luck?" Theta laughed. The kind of laughter that went on and on; the same laughter that got stuck in the throat and did not let go until it caused you physical harm. The laughter of the sick, the dying, the laughter of despair.

"There is no such thing," Theta said. She collapsed on the ground, her body shook as she let go; they zoomed in on her tears.

Madge stood. "We have to make traps, set snares."

Theta did not move.

"I'm not giving up, but I need your help. I can't do it on my own," Madge said.

"Please."

Theta moved her arm, then her feet, she placed one foot on the ground and stood. "I'm not going down alone," she said.

"That's right."

They walked for an hour before they stopped in a small clearing. A stream ran a few hundred feet away, allowing them to keep hydrated.

They laid their equipment on the ground. "We have one knife, a sword, a piece of rope and an empty backpack." Madge frowned.

"I'll take the sword," Theta said and grabbed it.

"Okay, that leaves me the knife."

"We can't do this straight up, we have to make a trap."

"I know."

"And it has to work."

"I know."

"So…"

"I'm thinking!" Madge snapped.

They both froze, and kept quiet for the next thirty seconds.

Theta let out a deep breath. "Don't do that."

Madge nodded. "I won't."

"I could make a single snare, but I doubt that they move alone," Madge said.

"So, something that traps all of them."

"Or at least make them incapacitated for a while. "

Madge ran her left hand through her hair, it got stuck in a tangle; she jerked it free.

Madge sighed. "We don't even know how many they are," she said.

"Probably two and two."

"Why?"

"Capitol arrogance," Theta said.

Katniss shifted in her seat.

"Then we have to separate them, and go after one," Madge said.

"Sounds great, but how?"

"By giving them a distraction."

"It's a good idea," Peeta said.

"Yeah…" Katniss said, unconvinced. There was a big difference between two and three.

Madge collected small twigs and piled them into a small heap.

"What are you doing?" Theta asked.

Madge paused in her work. "I'm going to start a fire," she said.

"Great," Theta said. "I bet that won't backfire."

"If you don't—"

"Easy, I'm in okay? What should I do?"

Madge glared at her. "The same, over there." She pointed to the other end of the clearing. At Theta's raised eyebrow she continued, "We're going to trap them."

"I thought you wanted to separate them?"

"That comes later, this is plan A."

Theta narrowed her eyes. "How do you—"She paused. "Forget it," she said and walked off towards the middle of the clearing.

Madge followed her; she brought the rope.

"I can set one snare," she said.

"Then do it."

"I don't know where; up or down?" Madge turned left, then right. On the left side there was a slow rising slope; it went on for a few hundred feet before evening out. The right was covered by big, thick, maple trees. It was difficult to see even a few feet in.

Theta peered at the two options. "Up; I bet the Capitol tributes are big brutes. They need room to move around," she said.

Madge nodded and went on to set the snare.

The hours passed; Madge had moved her pile of twigs further into the woods. She sat by it, waiting. The sun was low over the horizon, it was almost dusk.

"They should be there now," Katniss muttered.

"Maybe they lost the trail?" Peeta asked, hopeful.

She frowned. "Maybe…"

"This is so exciting, I can hardly wait," Claudius said. The commentary was back, which could only mean one thing.

"They are soo close to each other now, almost touching, but not yet." He laughed. "That time will come, you bet on it!"

"They are walking right into a trap," Enobaria said; she did not sound sorry for it.

"It's hardly a trap," Claudius argued. "More like throwing a rock up in the air and hoping it will hit something. But, we shouldn't take it too lightly; it's their last ditch defence. We have seen before that these girls won't go down without a fight."

Madge sat with her back against a tree; ten feet above the ground and had a great view of the clearing. She moved her legs suddenly, and crouched on the branch. She had spotted something: three people strode into the clearing, two blonde girls and one black haired boy. Even if she had not seen them, their loud footsteps made their presence plain. They were not trying to be quiet.

Madge climbed down, using the branches on the other side of the tree to hide her descent. She had to move fast; the clearing was oblong and the Capitol tributes were walking across the small middle.

She started a fire; it burned brightly. Madge waved her hand, trying to direct the smoke towards the three tributes. She had placed dry grass around the fire and it was already fully ablaze; the smoke that rose from it was dark and heavy. She raised her head in the tributes' direction, but her view was obstructed by trees. Madge grimaced, she had to move soon; she could not get caught here.

Katniss crouched on the sofa and rested her elbows on her knees. Twenty seconds passed before Madge moved; she ran away from the fire, towards the snare.

"She is in here!" Someone shouted.

Madge sped up, moving deftly between the trees. She took a sharp turn to the left and hid behind some bushes. She was breathing rapidly; Katniss found herself doing the same.

One of the female tributes burst out from behind an old oak. The girl ran right past Madge; not even a glance in her direction. Madge sat still and waited; the second girl was suddenly before her. She moved silent and deliberately, taking great care in placing her feet. She had definitely watched the Games before entering. Her eyes searched the ground; she stopped at the place where Madge turned. Madge tightened her grip on the knife, her eyes fixed on the girl.

The girl turned and in one fluid motion released a knife from her right hand; Katniss had not even seen the knife.

Haymitch swore and sat up straighter.

The knife missed; the girl had known the direction but not the exact location.

Katniss leaned forward.

Madge sprung to her feet and for a split second the two girls locked eyes. Then Madge ran, the other girl was much bigger than her; she would have no chance in a direct confrontation. She ran after the first girl; the moss under her feet kept the noise to a minimum, but to Katniss's sensitive ears it was louder than a bulldozer.

Madge jumped over a stubby root and landed on both feet; she continued to the right and finally reached the snare.

Madge halted. Something was wrong; the snare was sprung. No one was in it; it was completely empty.

Laughter. "You didn't think I would fall for that did you? My little brother could do better." The first girl walked out from behind a tree; she smirked at Madge.

Madge's blank mask slipped and she shivered.

"There you are, I thought you would make me run forever." The other girl had arrived.

"I had to disable that." She pointed to the snare.

The other girl walked up to it. "Ohhh, clever, "she said sarcastically.

Madge inched away from them.

"She's going to run again."

"It would be easier if she didn't." They both smirked.

"Brutal!" Claudius shouted. "They are playing with her."

Madge ran towards the clearing; the girls followed a few feet behind her.

She burst out of the forest and into the clearing. Theta did the same on the opposite side, the boy right behind her. They met in the middle; Madge and Theta stood back to back with their weapons raised.

The three tributes from the Capitol circled them, moving in to attack before quickly retreating. They were testing them, checking their combat expertise.

"Not bad," the boy said; he shifted his sword from hand to hand.

"Let's get it over with," The second girl said in a bored tone. She moved in and swiped at Madge's feet, but missed as Madge jumped away.

"You won't get out," Madge said. She gestured to the forest; the flames circled the clearing. There were only two gaps and they would be closed shortly.

The second girl shrugged.

"I'll do it," the first girl said. She brandished her bow and drew back an arrow; she pointed it directly at Madge.

"Wait!" Madge shouted.

"No," the girl said.

Katniss clenched her hands. The girl was too close; Madge could not dodge from that distance.

The arrow flew and hit the ground harmlessly.

An incomprehensible sound emerged from Haymitch.

"Yes," Peeta agreed.

Katniss's eyes were drawn to the girl, to the girl's neck. An arrow stood out from it; a gurgling noise escaped from the girl's lips as she fell.

The sound of a cannon filled the air.

"No…" Claudius said.

The camera changed, the girl from District Two, Wren had arrived. She stood at the edge of the clearing with flames burning around her. Wren drew back the bow string, another arrow already placed on it. Wren let go, and the arrow flew through the air, directly towards the boy.

He dodged and the arrow missed him by a few inches. He ran back into the woods, Wren took off after him. Madge, Theta and the last girl stayed put. They did not have much choice; the flames surrounded them and crept closer and closer to their position.

"Two against one, luck against skill, Districts against the Capitol. Carly is the only one left, and she is faced with two opponents, can she overcome the challenge and come out alive? Or will the cowardly girls from the Districts get lucky and murder her? This is the Hunger Games!" Claudius said.

Madge stood shoulder to shoulder with Theta; the girl stood ten feet away. Madge glanced over at the fallen girl, the bow lay beside her, partly covered by the girl's body.

Then the Capitol girl moved; she took a firm step towards the other two. Madge took a step back; her eyes wide and her hands clenched. The hand holding the knife had lost all colour. The Capitol girl took one more step forwards; once more the two other girls stepped back.

The Capitol girl brought out another knife and now had one in each hand. Suddenly she sprang into action and closed the gap in one short moment. Theta swung her sword, aiming for the girl's midsection. The girl sidestepped easily, and threw one of the knives. It hit Theta in the left thigh and she fell to the ground with a scream; still keeping a firm grip on the sword she brought it up to defend herself. Madge hesitated; she glanced at the bow then back at Theta.

"Madge, help…" Theta begged.

The Capitol girl inched closer to Theta.

Madge made her decision and charged at the girl; her knife held up like a sword, ready to slash. Madge died instantly, from a knife to the heart. Her body hit the ground hard, and was still. The second stretched on and the Capitol girl fell, landing a full foot away from Madge. Her blue eyes open in surprise; the knife stood out from her chest like a beacon. They lay in a circle, Madge's yin to the girl's yang.

Katniss mouth started working again. "No… Nooo!" she screamed.

Peeta hugged her, his entire body was shaking. Katniss was numb; her body was not responding to her and she stood motionless.

A glass shattered, Haymitch had not moved from his position on the couch, but shards of glass littered the floor in front of him. A wet spot formed under them.

Katniss's eyes refocused on the screen as Theta crawled over to Madge; with quivering hands she reached out and brushed Madge's hair away from her face. Tears flowed freely down her cheek.

"And her last word was wait…" Claudius said.

Katniss blinked away tears, she hugged Peeta, clinging onto him for dear life.

Two cannons went off; the lights shut down and it was darkness.

* * *

His gaze left the screen and the dark room that was shown; she had changed a lot. Too much, but that was not for him to wonder. She made her choice, now he would make his.

His right hand found the bow; his left checked the arrow quiver on his back. He drew an arrow, this was it. Today the world would change. He walked out the house and met up with a small group of people, they carried weapons as well. Bows and arrows, knifes and axes, some even had guns.

He walked through the group; his destination was not far from the house and he reached it quickly. A man stood on the porch in front of a small house. He wore a white uniform, with black stripes at the sleeves and collar. His hair was closely cut, almost bald, his dark grey eyes were not visible at this range.

Gale brought the arrow to his bow and dragged the string back; he took a deep breath and gazed at the heavens. Then he looked back and focused on the target. The arrow flew and the target fell; the revolution started.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

Katniss's eyes adjusted to the darkness; she drew back from Peeta and walked over to the light switch controlling the ceiling lamp. She flicked the switch downwards; nothing happened. She flicked it back up, then down again. She repeated this a few times before giving up.

"What's going on?" Katniss asked.

Haymitch stood and moved over to the door. "It's over and we have to leave. Now!" He opened the door, and light streamed in from the hallway. Haymitch put his head out into the doorway and glanced about.

"Good," he mumbled. They followed him into the hallway and out the door leading to the hall.

Katniss narrowed her eyes. "What's going on?" she repeated. Haymitch increased his pace; she and Peeta had to jog to keep up.

Instead of going left, which would lead them to the main entrance, Haymitch led them right and up to another door. Katniss had enough and was not waiting any longer. She pulled Haymitch's sleeve forcefully, causing him to twist and stop.

"What?" he snapped.

"What's going on? I'm not moving from here until I know," Katniss said.

Haymitch snarled. "We don't have time for this—"

"Then make time," she said.

He gazed at her in bewilderment. "What? "

"Haymitch!" Peeta said.

Haymitch ground his teeth. "We started, all right?" He looked at them pointedly. "We started…Now let's go." He spun on his heels and went through the doorway.

"You don't mean…" Peeta said.

Katniss swore; she caught up to Haymitch. "How do we get out?"

"There is someone..." He rummaged through his breast pocket and pulled out a paper sheet; he gave it to her. "Here, if you ever get lost…" He gave her a look; she nodded and pocketed the sheet.

Haymitch pushed up a door and walked out; the sun had gone down over the horizon and the moon was out. With bright moonlight and lamp posts illuminating the street, they had no trouble finding their way through the back alleys of the city. After ten minutes Haymitch stopped; Peacekeepers patrolled a crossing further down the road.

Haymitch grimaced; he turned and walked to the right instead. "There is nowhere to hide here; there are cameras everywhere."

Haymitch increased his pace once more and started to jog.

Katniss peered at the surrounding buildings, trying to spot the cameras. Nothing stood out. But Haymitch was right; Snow was a paranoid man and would want to keep track of everyone.

They took a right, then a left and then a right again. Soon she lost track of where they came from and where they were going; it was not a pleasant feeling. Haymitch was breathing heavily beside her; his face was red and his feet made loud noises as they collided with the pavement.

She ran on and overtook Haymitch; Peeta brought up the rear. Katniss kept her eyes moving, searching for Peacekeepers.

"Left…Go left," Haymitch wheezed.

She went left and almost ran into a Peacekeeper patrol. Katniss came to an abrupt stop and she stared at the group; they halted a hundred feet down the road. She was seen, and the Peacekeepers turned in her direction. The leader pointed at her and said something. Katniss saw Haymitch and Peeta from the corner of her eye; they had stopped just around the corner and were hidden from view. Katniss swallowed; there was only one thing to do.

She ran; away from the Peacekeepers and away from Haymitch and Peeta.

"After her!" one of the Peacekeepers shouted. Katniss was fast, she could outrun anyone. So it was strange that there were footsteps behind her, very, very close to her. She glanced over her shoulder, and almost fell over.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"I couldn't leave you," Peeta said.

"I did this for you. Go away."

"No. We need to stick together."

Haymitch was nowhere to be seen.

Katniss ground her teeth; her feet hit the ground harder as she pushed off with extra ferocity. The street stretched on; she kept her head down in case of gunshots. Finally, they came to a junction and they took to the right. This street was narrower than the last and had more intertwining streets; this suited Katniss well and she took a sharp left. A yellow apartment complex stood out from the others and a dark skinned man stood in the doorway. His dark red clothing clashed with the building behind him; he opened the door wider and waved them over.

Katniss frowned; it was too risky.

If only she had her bow.

"Over there," Peeta said. He pointed at the man.

"Too risky."

"He is an Avox."

"I know."

Another Peacekeeper patrol appeared from a side road; two pairs of feet changed direction promptly. They reached the yellow building and the Avox closed the door behind them, he locked it three times and bolted it, before hurrying off down the hallway. They ran after him and passed three elevators, and then through a door with a picture of stairs on it.

They ran down two sets of stairs and then went through an open doorway. It was a spacious room, with lots of shelves holding various objects. There was an entire shelf filled with white walking sticks and another with hats and glasses.

The Avox strode to the back of the room, and stopped before a mirror. It was one of those full sized mirrors; all three of them could be seen in the reflexion. Footsteps stomped down the stairs behind them; the Avox took a step towards the mirror and placed a hand against it. He leaned forwards and pushed; the mirror gave in and spun. The Avox glanced behind him and over their shoulders; their followers were approaching fast. He walked into the mirror and waved for them to follow; they did so hesitantly. The Avox dragged the mirror back to its original state. He twisted a knob, locking it in this position.

Then he walked on; Katniss stared after him. Peeta tip-toed after him; the noise from across the mirror grew louder. Shelves were turned over as the Peacekeepers searched for them. Katniss hurried after Peeta and together they caught up with the Avox.

The ceiling was low and the walls seemed to close in on them as they journeyed further down the hallway. Both Katniss and Peeta had to keep their head down as they walked. The Avox was short enough to walk upright, allowing him to move faster and more efficiently than them.

The hallway became too narrow for her and Peeta to walk side by side, so Katniss walked ahead, her eyes fixed on the Avox.

They came upon a small red door with no handle. The Avox walked up to it and knocked four times; he took a step back and waited.

The door opened slightly, enough for a sliver of wind to push through. A dark blue eye appeared in the gap and peered over at them. Apparently satisfied with the situation the eye drew back and the door opened fully. The eye belonged to an elderly woman, also dressed in dark red. Her eyes were like that of a hawk and they followed Katniss's every move. The woman gestured with her hands, rough motions, almost like she was fighting with the air. The man reciprocated with gestures of his own, just as hard and cutting as hers. Maybe that was how the language worked, or maybe they discussed something particularly nasty.

The male Avox hit out with his hands in exasperation and walked away from the woman. She stared after him with pursed lips and one hand on her hip. The male Avox walked in front with Katniss and Peeta behind him; the woman stayed by the door.

It was an oval room, with several doors leading away from it. Noise came from behind some of the doors, footsteps and metal hitting rock, reminding Katniss of the mine back home. They walked through the door directly in front and entered a new hallway, wider and taller than the last. The previous hallway had been more of a tunnel, made for one purpose, which was to take people from A to B. This new one was of a finer quality, made for comfort and for someone that, while they had to get somewhere, could take their time getting there.

They walked through the hallway, past ten identical doors, and stopped at the very end. The Avox knocked on the door and entered immediately. It was a strange room, the walls were plastered with maps and pictures, but there did not seem to be any pattern to them. There was a picture of President Snow, and next to him one of Haymitch, two people that were as different as they came. Maybe some perverse attraction?

A table took up the middle of the room; two chairs were placed in front and one at the back. The chair behind the table had a bigger backrest, and it was tall enough to allow the woman sitting in it to rest her feet comfortably on the table. She was young and healthy, and the only person they had met in here not wearing red. There was something strangely familiar with the woman before them; Katniss had seen her before. But there was something off, something that made her different from the last time.

Suddenly, the woman grinned. She ran her left hand over her almost bald head and raised one eyebrow. "You like?"

"It suits you," Peeta said.

She jumped to her feet. "How dare you!"

Katniss took a step towards Peeta; his mouth was open and his eyes large.

Silence. It stretched into awkwardness.

Peeta closed his mouth; then he opened it again to speak. But thought better of it and closed it again. The woman glared at them, and then she raised her arm and pointed straight at Katniss. "You…"She licked her lips. "Are finally here. God, you took your time didn't you?"

It was Katniss's time to gape.

The woman walked around the table and extended her hand. "Johanna."

Katniss hesitated, but took the offered hand. "Katniss."

"Peeta," Peeta said.

Johanna Mason, the victor of the Seventy-first Hunger Games; this was where she ended up.

"Where are we?" Katniss asked.

"Do you have a map?" Johanna asked.

Katniss glanced at the wall and raised her brow.

Johanna laughed. She gestured about her. "These are all special maps; they're not here for tourists. Not unless you want to see something special. I could show you our position on them, but you wouldn't recognize it."

Katniss grabbed the sheet Haymitch gave her and unfolded it; it was a map of the Capitol. She put it down on the table. "Here."

"Great. We are—"She ran her finger over the map. "—Here." She pointed; it was marked with a red circle. Katniss's eyes widened; through sheer dumb luck they had arrived exactly where they should.

"Have you seen Haymitch?" Peeta asked.

Johanna shook her head. "No, but I'm expecting him any second now. You can wait for him here." She turned to the Avox. "Pale, could you show them to the spare room?"

He nodded.

Johanna's eyes found them again. "It's late, why don't you get some rest? I'll come and get you when he arrives."

Neither Peeta nor Katniss moved. "What are you doing here?" Katniss asked. The back of her head itched but she refrained from scratching it.

Johanna walked back to her chair and sat down in it. She gestured for them to join her by the table. "Sit down, and I'll tell you."

Katniss sat to the left; she folded her arms across her chest and leaned back.

"So?" Peeta asked; he sat to Katniss's right.

"We are the resistance; here to help our own in the Capitol. This"—she gestured around her—"is the only place in the city were we have control. "

"Why are _you_ here?" Katniss blurted out. "You're a victor."

"I am." She shook her head. "I was. The Capitol and I had different opinion about what that implied—now I'm here."

"But why here? This is the Capitol; who are you helping?" Peeta asked.

Johanna raised her brow. "Didn't you see them?"

Peeta leaned back. "The Avox."

"Yes. There are thousands living in the city; forced to work against their will."

Katniss narrowed her eyes. "So that's your purpose? To save the Avox?" she asked, unconvinced.

"Yes."

"And then what? You're just going to stay down here?" Katniss asked.

"The Avox have been wronged by the Capitol, and because of that they have a deep seated hatred for the people living here. I'm giving them another opportunity to live." She hit the table with her palm. "But, I have things to do. And you really should sleep; you have a long day ahead of you."

Pale opened the door and held it open for them to walk through. Katniss cast one last look back at Johanna before leaving; Johanna waved at her.

The door closed and they followed after Pale; he led them back through the hallway and into the oval room. The woman sat at a chair poised in front of the door, she did not turn around as they passed, but kept her gaze fixed at the door.

They went through one of the doorways to the left, and sidestepped as two Avox women passed, carrying a wooden chest between them. It was a long hallway; they walked for five minutes, never changing direction nor opening any doors. Every time they came upon a door Pale would speed up and pass it quickly.

Then finally, he stopped in front of a door. Identical in appearance as the others they had passed; no numbers nor any markings.

He rummaged through his pocket and found a keychain; three keys were fitted on it. He brought the keychain up to his eyes and looked at the keys in turn; he grabbed the smallest one and put it into the lock. Turning the handle he took the key back out and placed it into his pocket. He pushed the door and it slid open.

Two beds, a small bedroom dresser with two drawers and a lamp; that was the room and here they would stay. There was no window or any other escape route; if they got trapped in here there would be no way out. Pale gestured something to them, and then he walked off, back to Johanna.

Peeta sat on the left bed and he pulled off his shoes and lay back; his head finding the pillow.

Katniss walked over to the bedroom dresser and opened the top drawer. Empty. She opened the next one, also empty. She sat down on the bed to the right. What was going on? Why was she still feeling uncomfortable, as if something was pressing on her chest?

She rubbed her eyes; they stung, a clear sign that she should sleep. What time was it now? There were no windows for her to check the position of the moon, and the stark white walls did nothing to lift her spirits.

She sighed. "I don't get it, why would _she _do this?"

"I don't know…" Peeta asked.

"Do you remember; from her Hunger Games? She was cold, ruthless and sly. Not someone who would dedicate her life to save anyone."

"The Hunger Games twisted everything. Who knows what the real her looks like?"

"I'm sure. She is the kind of woman who would be at the front; not the kind to hide in shadows."

Peeta sat up and rested his back against the wall. "Maybe she has changed?" He looked thoughtful.

Katniss frowned. "I don't think so, something is off…"

"Well, I don't think she's working with the Capitol, so let's give her a day." He shrugged. "We'll move on tomorrow."

Katniss kicked off her shoes and lay on top of the blanket; she closed her eyes.

Peeta got up from his bed and walked towards her; he stopped in front of the dresser. He drug it away. Katniss opened one eye; Peeta placed the dresser against the door. Then he sat on his bed and started getting undressed. He pulled off his shirt and let it fall to the floor. His hands went to the pants and she held her breath. He glanced at her; her eye shut closed immediately and she felt heat flush to her cheeks. A bed creaked and a blanket ruffled; when she opened her eyes again he was fully covered by it and lay staring the other way.

She could not see the pants anywhere, so he was probably still wearing them. She bit her lip; she wanted to see the leg.

* * *

Katniss did not get much sleep that night; she kept waking up frightened and sweaty. After the third time, she gave up and decided to watch the door instead. She sat with her back against the dresser; on the floor in her underwear. She brought the blanket over and drew it around her. She peered at Peeta. He was lying on his stomach with his head turned in her direction. His hair was ruffled and fell over his forehead, his lips turned downwards. Was he having a bad dream?

She had to protect him; he was too trusting and would get killed if she ever left. She shivered. He had to survive, she was going to make him. Katniss got to her feet, and while dragging the blanket after her she walked over to Peeta's bed. She sat on it, carefully avoiding his outstretched hand, a full head separated her from Peeta.

Katniss coughed, and then she waited. Peeta slept on. She coughed louder and started tapping her fingers against the bed; making a near inaudible hollow sound.

Her patience ran out and she poked him in the shoulder. He opened his eyes slowly and raised his head to look at her. He did not smile when his gaze landed on her, but instead he frowned.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I'm sorry I kissed you!" she said, hurriedly.

His eyes was wide. "What? What time?" he asked, smartly.

She raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. "In front of the sponsors."

He sat up and rested his back against the wall; his eyes were focused as he levelled her with a stare. "It was Haymitch right?" he said, bitterly.

"No. He didn't have anyt—"

"Stop. Please don't do this."

"But I—"

"I don't want to hear it." He stood up on the bed, he wore blue boxers, so he _had_ taken off his pants. He passed her and collected his clothes on the floor, leaving the rest on the dresser, he started putting on his pants.

Katniss stood up and clenched her fist. "Listen to me," she said.

He fastened the buttons on his pants. Still facing the other way he sighed. "Katniss, I'm tired…and I really don't want to hear," he said, wearily.

Katniss walked up to him, and placed her palm against his naked back. Inside was his heart, beating fast, like her own.

"I can't let you go. I need you; I will always need you," she mumbled.

His turned around and she pulled her hand back; they were face to face.

She stared at his face, his nose, the dark circles around his eyes, and then finally into the blue spheres someone had once called eyes.

"I can't…" she started.

He raised his right arm and touched her cheek. He left his hand there as he leaned in. He kissed her, a soft and tender kiss, it lasted only for a moment.

"I love you," he murmured.

She put her hands around his neck and kissed him again, this time the kiss was wilder, more desperate. They broke off for air.

Katniss rested her forehead against his. "I can't lose you…"

"You won't."

"Promise."

"You won't; I promise."

"You better keep it."

They stayed like that for a long time.

Katniss removed her hands from his neck. She was suddenly very aware of their state of undress; she stood in her underwear hugging a shirtless Peeta. She smiled as she got dressed and a thrill of pleasure ran through her when she thought of the kiss.

She had done it; she found the words.

"Shall we go?" Peeta asked. He was already fully dressed and waited for her by the door.

"Let's go find Haymitch."

She did not take his hand this time, but they walked side by side back towards the entrance. They walked past many Avox on the way there; the population seemed to have doubled overnight. They entered the same corridor as the night before, and at the end of it they once more found themselves in front of Johanna's office. Katniss knocked, and entered just as Johanna spoke.

"Enter."

Katniss pushed the door open and walked inside. Johanna wore the same all-grey outfit she had the day before. Her eyes were bloodshot and her feet quivered slightly; she took a long drag from a blue mug.

"You want coffee?" Johanna asked.

"No thanks," Peeta said. Katniss shook her head.

"Your loss," Johanna said.

"Where is Haymitch?" Katniss asked.

Johanna glanced at Katniss, and then at Peeta. "Unfortunately, he did not make it here. But don't worry; we had contact with him earlier and he's fine. Well…" She hesitated.

"Well, what?" Katniss snapped.

Johanna frowned. "He is trapped; on his way here he had to hide from a Peacekeeper patrol. Now he is stuck there and Snow has increased the guards and surveillance everywhere; there is no way to get him out unseen. "

"He'll figure out a way," Katniss said.

"We have to do something," Peeta said.

"Didn't you hear? There is nothing we can do," Katniss said.

"There is," Johanna interjected.

Two pairs of eyes focused on her, one pair more eager than the other. "There is something you can do—it's dangerous, but it will help everyone."

"What is it?" Peeta asked.

"The real problem is not the patrols, it's the cameras. Fooling the Peacekeepers is easy, but fooling the camera is impossible." She smirked. "So we turn off the cameras."

"How?" Katniss asked.

"There is a tall building a couple of blocks west from the City Circle, it looks just like any other building, but inside it lies the brain of the Capitol. Everything is controlled from in there. We have to take it out; if we do Haymitch gets an easier way out, and even you will gain from it."

It was true; turning off the cameras would make life easier for everyone. Getting out would no longer be a pipedream, but they would have a real shot at it.

"But how do we get there without being seen? You already said that they upped the surveillance..."

"It's going to be tricky, you have to move in the dark an—"

"They have night vision cameras." Katniss said.

Johanna glared. "Let me finish! We'll blow something up and divert their attention."

Katniss blinked.

The door opened behind them and a familiar voice called out. "Katniss, Peeta. I didn't think I would ever see you again, least of all so soon." Finnick strode into the room followed by a shorter, brown haired woman.

"This is Annie," Finnick said, introducing her.

"Hello," Annie said.

"Hi."

"So, you are the lucky ones to join our operation…" He shrugged. "I'll take it. Everything ready? We have to go now; it's a long walk."

"Yep, I'm done," Johanna said.

"Great, then bye." He said quickly as he turned around and walked out the door.

Katniss hurried after them; glad to be away from Johanna.

"So, we're going to blow something up?" Katniss asked.

Finnick looked at her and shook his head. "No…one of our friends has given me a device that can jam all electricity for a few minutes. We get in, place another device, and then get out again." He shrugged. "A few minutes should cover it."

"Then why would she talk about a bomb?" Peeta asked.

Finnick laughed. "That's just her—I think…" He narrowed his eyes. "Well…let's hope not. " He sent Katniss an uncertain smile.

Finnick led on; he walked with a confidence that betrayed familiarity.

Katniss found her map and showed it to Finnick. "So, we're here, and going here. Do we go back the same way?" Katniss asked.

Finnick glanced at the map. He frowned. "No…We're here." He pointed to another spot, ten blocks away from the red circle.

"No, Johanna said…" Peeta said.

Annie laughed. "Shouldn't trust her. She would do anything to further her cause," she said and walked away from them.

Katniss halted. They were not supposed to be here…Was Haymitch even trapped? She grimaced. "Why are you two doing this?"

"Someone has to—I'm simply the best someone." Finnick said, cheekily. "But, we can't afford standing around, we have to hurry." He strode after Annie and caught up with her quickly.

"It's the best thing to do," Peeta said when they were alone.

"I don't like it."

He smiled. "Then let's be fast about it."

She frowned, but allowed him to drag her along. They walked in two groups from then on. Finnick and Annie in the front, with Peeta and Katniss following fifty feet behind.

A door opened to the right and a child ran out. She was young, six or seven years old, with short brown hair, and wearing a white summer dress. A woman came out after her and raised her hand gesturing something, but the girl was too busy playing to notice. She had a wooden toy in her hands, a bird figurine, and the girl ran around pretending to fly it. The woman knocked on the door three times and finally drew the girl's attention. The woman crossed her hands over her chest and raised her eyebrows; she pointed to the room. The girl frowned and her shoulders dropped, and with a glance in their direction she went back inside. As they walked past the door, the smell of shampoo and the sound of running water came from within.

The next door was also open, and the people inside were making dinner, fish and bread, the couple waved at Katniss and Peeta as they passed.

After forty minutes of manoeuvring through the corridors, they reached a dead end.

Katniss raised an eyebrow at Finnick. "Lost?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No." He pointed upwards, to a hole in the ceiling, it was covered by a round metallic object. A man hole. "But it seems we will have to wait." He glanced at his watch. "Any minute now." He took a small round object from his backpack; it looked like a ball with a button on it.

A scratching noise came from above, and the metallic cover was pulled aside. A man appeared in the opening.

"Let's go," Annie said, and they went.


End file.
